A Bitcoin whale pocketed $3.5 million in 48 hours buying the dip near $59,700 and selling into the recovery — a trade that captures the market's cautious mood.
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Bitcoin bounces from $59K but whale selling keeps bears in control
A Bitcoin whale pocketed $3.5 million in 48 hours buying the dip near $59,700 and selling into the recovery — a trade that captures the market's cautious mood.
Bitcoin rose 2 percent to $63,058 as of 14:30 UTC on June 8 after defending the $60,000 level, but whale selling and bearish momentum signals kept the recovery fragile. The rebound followed a drop to $59,100, the first break below $60,000 since 2024, and came as short covering and oversold conditions helped lift prices to a local high of $64,000.
"The Exchange Whale Ratio climbed to a two-week high of 0.6, suggesting large holders accounted for a growing share of exchange deposits," CryptoQuant data showed. One whale purchased 1,656 BTC worth $98.93 million at an average price of $59,734, then moved the holdings to Binance and locked in roughly $3.5 million in gains as BTC recovered toward $64,000, according to Lookonchain. The quick exit highlighted lingering caution even after a sharp bounce.
Bitcoin's Trend Momentum indicator has remained negative for three consecutive weeks and fell to -20 on June 8, signaling sellers retain control. A sustained hold above $60,000 opens a path to $65,300 — the 9-day simple moving average — and then $69,000 near the 20-day exponential moving average. A break below support could send BTC toward $58,500 and $56,000.
Whale selling meets dip-buying retail
Despite the elevated whale deposits, exchange netflows have remained negative for four consecutive days, CryptoQuant data showed, indicating that smaller traders are buying the dip. If retail buyers hold their positions, they could absorb selling pressure from whales and give Bitcoin a lifeline to reclaim $65,000 and target $70,000 in the short to medium term.
The divergence between whale and retail behavior mirrors a pattern market commentator Ardi described as inconsistent with major market bottoms. Retail investors have continued buying dips while larger participants distribute supply during relief rallies, he said on X.
Liquidations and on-chain stress
The selloff that pushed Bitcoin below $60,000 triggered more than $155 million in crypto long liquidations within an hour and total liquidations exceeding $1.7 billion over 24 hours, CoinGlass data showed. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 8, a multi-year low, while CryptoQuant reported that nearly $40 billion left the Bitcoin ecosystem as capital rotated into US AI equities.
On-chain data cited by analyst Scott Melker showed the short-term holder realized profit and loss ratio hit a new all-time low, while approximately 5.3 million BTC held by long-term holders were sitting at a loss — exceeding levels seen after the FTX collapse. The daily RSI recovered to around 25.8 after briefly dropping near 15.5, its lowest since March 2020, suggesting seller exhaustion may be building.
The key question is whether institutional demand returns after weeks of sustained outflows. Strategy's sale of 32 BTC to fund preferred stock dividend obligations — a tiny fraction of its roughly 840,000 BTC treasury — added to the cautious tone, though founder Michael Saylor teased on June 7 that the company may resume buying.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
