Bitcoin Big-Money Exits: Large-Holder Supply Hits Lowest Since May 2025

Bitcoin Big-Money Exits: Large-Holder Supply Hits Lowest Since May 2025

Source: NewsBTC

Published:2026-02-20 23:30

BTC Price:$67949

#btc #onchain #whales

Analysis

Price Impact

Med

Large bitcoin holders (whales and sharks) are reducing their supply, reaching a multi-month low. this indicates a lack of confidence from big players, which could limit upward price movements. however, retail investors are accumulating, providing some counter-balance.

Trustworthiness

High

The analysis is based on on-chain data from santiment, a reputable analytics firm. the reporting is also backed by a stated editorial policy focused on accuracy and impartiality.

Price Direction

Neutral

While large holders are selling, retail investors are buying. this divergence creates a neutral outlook in the short term, with potential for limited upside due to the lack of strong institutional backing.

Time Effect

Short

The data shows recent trends (october to present) and santiment's comment suggests that without key stakeholder support, rallies tend to be 'slightly limited' in the short term.

Original Article:

Article Content:

Reason to trust Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality Created by industry experts and meticulously reviewed The highest standards in reporting and publishing How Our News is Made Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality Ad discliamer Morbi pretium leo et nisl aliquam mollis. Quisque arcu lorem, ultricies quis pellentesque nec, ullamcorper eu odio. On-chain data shows the key Bitcoin investors have been distributing recently, with their supply share dropping to the lowest level in months. Large Holder Demand For Bitcoin Has Remained Weak Recently In a new post on X, on-chain analytics firm Santiment has talked about how the Bitcoin investor behavior has compared between the top and low ends of the market. Related Reading XRP Social Sentiment Hits 5-Week High—BTC, ETH Mood Still Off 15 hours ago The analytics firm has chosen these wallet ranges to represent the two sides: 0 to 0.01 BTC and 10 to 10,000 BTC. The former includes the smallest of retail investors , while the latter includes key investor cohorts like the sharks and whales . Below is the chart shared by Santiment that shows the trend in the percentage of the total circulating Bitcoin supply held by each cohort. Looks like the metrics have gone the opposite ways in recent weeks | Source: Santiment on X As is visible in the graph, the 0 to 0.01 BTC cohort has been expanding its supply since the October price peak. Bitcoin has witnessed a deep drawdown inside this window, but the data would imply that it hasn’t held back retail traders from accumulating. In total, this accumulation has expanded the holdings of these small hands by 2.5%, taking their percentage supply share to the highest level since June 2024. While retail has been buying, the sharks and whales have shown a different trajectory. From the chart, it’s apparent that the 10 to 10,000 BTC holders sold alongside the market drawdown between October and December. In January, these investors participated in some buying, which interestingly coincided with a drop in retail holdings. Then, the drawdown toward the end of the month again kicked off a selloff from the key investors. This selloff was steep, in fact sharper than any part of Q4 2025’s distribution phase. Recently, even as Bitcoin has made some recovery from its $60,000 low and found some stability, the big-money investors haven’t shown any return of bullish conviction. Compared to the October peak, the supply of the 10 to 10,000 BTC holders is now down 0.8%, which has taken the network share of this group to the lowest since May 2025. Related Reading Bitcoin Consolidating In A Triangle—Is A 15% Move Next? 1 day ago The analytics firm explained: Optimally, we begin to see these two Bitcoin groups begin to reverse course. Without key stakeholder support, any spark of a rally will tend to be slightly limited due to the lack of large capital. In another X post , Santiment has also discussed the behavior of the mid-tier Bitcoin holders, occupying the space between retail and large investors. The trend in the holdings of the mid-tier BTC cohorts | Source: Santiment on X As displayed in the chart, the 0.01 to 1 BTC wallets have seen their combined Bitcoin supply hit a 15-month high following a 1.05% increase since October. Meanwhile, the 1 to 10 BTC hands have reduced their holdings by 0.49% in the same period. BTC Price At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $67,400, up 0.7% over the last week. The price of the coin seems to have been moving sideways recently | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com