A Bitcoin Whale Just Shorted $ 100M BTC – Big Holders Expect a Bigger Drop?

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A Bitcoin (BTC) whale placed a $ 100 million short on Bybit, according to the pseudonym trader CL. It comes after various data on the chain point to a whale-driven sell-off over the past week.

While Bitcoin’s momentum remains strong, there are many reasons that make $ 16,000 an attractive area for sellers.

There is significant liquidity at $ 16,000, mainly because it is a heavy resistance level. But the level saw relatively high buyer demand, stablecoin inflows show. Hence, the battle between buyers and sellers at $ 16,000 makes it an area with high liquidity, which is compelling for sellers.

Bitcoin orderbook on futures exchanges. Source: CL, Exocharts

Growing signs of whales taking profits

A seller aggressively sold Bitcoin on Bybit on November 15th. Order flows show that there were sales orders worth around $ 3.5 million on average consecutively over several hours.

Based on the sharp large-scale sell order, CL suggested that this could involve two scenarios.

First, the seller could be swallowed and cause a squeeze, which could cause the price of BTC to rise. Second, it could continue to put selling pressure on BTC. The dealer he wrote:

“About 2 hours ago, someone aggressive sold almost 100 million on Bybit, a third of the sales have been opened, personally quite curious to see what happens if this seller / short gets swallowed or is let loose.”

Meanwhile, other major exchanges have spotted large deposits in the past 24 hours. According to data from CryptoQuant, US-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini has registered a deposit of 9,000 BTC.

Average BTC Gemini inflow. Source: CryptoQuant

Whales typically use exchanges with strict compliance and strong regulatory measures, which include platforms like Coinbase and Gemini.

Considering the large deposit of Bitcoin in Gemini, which is worth $ 143 million, a pseudonymous researcher known as “Blackbeard” She said it is time to be cautious.

Volatility only on weekends?

As CL noted, the current Bitcoin market structure is different from the previous cycle. For example, when BTC was at $ 16,000 in 2017, the market was extremely overheated with extreme volatility. The dealer She said:

“In 2017, when we went from 10,000, 15 to 20,000, we had weekly OKEx futures trades in $ 1000 contangos, now we’re here with quarters only $ 100 above.”