Santiment said large Bitcoin holders now control the smallest share of supply in nine months as prices slid sharply from recent highs.
Wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 Bitcoin account for about 68.04% of total supply after selling 81,068 BTC in the past eight days, Santiment said.
“This combination of key stakeholders selling and retail buying is what historically creates bear cycles,”
Santiment said, as Bitcoin fell roughly 27% from around $90,000 to near $65,000.
Broader sentiment has also deteriorated, with CryptoQuant chief executive Ki Young Ju saying that:
“Every Bitcoin analyst is now bearish.”
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropped to 9 out of 100, its lowest level since mid-2022 during the Terra collapse.
Despite whale selling, Santiment said retail investors have been accumulating aggressively, with so-called shrimp wallets holding less than 0.1 BTC reaching a 20-month high.
That retail cohort now holds about 0.249% of total Bitcoin supply, or roughly 52,290 BTC, highlighting a growing divergence between large and small holders.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $64,982.05.