IntoTheBlock data shows that the largest bitcoin investors added nearly 20,000 BTC to their holdings as the top crypto briefly buckled below $60,000 on fears of military escalation between Iran and Israel.
:format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/FLGJMOAILBCDNEISEJARTVRXOE "Bitcoin Whales Bought $1.2B BTC Amid the Price Dip, Fueling the Quick Rebound (2)")
/arc-photo-coindesk/arc2-prod/public/LXF2COBSKBCNHNRE3WTK2BZ7GE.png "Bitcoin Whales Bought $1.2B BTC Amid the Price Dip, Fueling the Quick Rebound (3)")
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The whale purchases marked a change in behavior compared to their inaction during previous dips over the past week.
The action perhaps helped bitcoin's rebound to $65,000, marking the $60,000 level as a key support level for bitcoin's price where buyers step in.
Large bitcoin (BTC) investors substantially increased their holdings as prices dipped below $60,000 in early Friday's panicky action on the crypto markets ahead of the asset's much-anticipated halving event.
Blockchain analytics firm IntoTheBlock's "large holder netflow" metric shows that Bitcoin addresses holding at least 0.1% of the supply added 19,760 BTC worth over $1.2 billion to their holdings on Friday at an average price of $62,500.
Large holders – often called whales in crypto slang – are major market players who control large amounts of a digital asset and are usually considered to be smart, well-informed investors. Their purchases and sales can have a sizable impact on markets, thus crypto watchers closely follow their behavior to anticipate price movements.
"Bitcoin whales may have finally started buying the dip," IntoTheBlock said in an X post on Friday. "Historically, accumulations by these addresses have often preceded rises in bitcoin's price."
The recent action marks a significant change in whales' behavior compared to earlier this week, when large investors didn't step in to capitalize on weakness, prompting fears about further downside.
The purchases perhaps fomented bitcoin's sharp rebound past $65,000 from its overnight lows of $59,600 as Israel carried out airstrikes in Iran. Prominent crypto trader Skew also pointed out that the recovery was at least partly driven by spot BTC buyers. Recently, BTC settled at around $64,000, up 1% over the past 24 hours.
Read more: Bitcoin Price Bounces as Halving Nears
Zooming out, the largest crypto by market capitalization has been consolidating for the past few weeks, cooling off from record-breaking prices last month ahead of its four-year halving scheduled for April 20 (UTC). The event will cut the reward for miners by half, reducing the issuance of new tokens to circulation.
Prices bounced from around the $60,000 area after sell-offs for the third time in a week, carving out a significant support level where buyers step in to capitalize on lower prices.
"While sellers on the margin appear to be derisking, there has also been opportunistic buying between $60,000-62,000 levels," Coinbase Institutional research analyst David Han said in a Friday report. "We think this directional uncertainty speaks to our thesis of bitcoin’s divergent roles both as a risk and a safe haven asset," he added.
Edited by Nikhilesh De.
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Krisztian Sandor is a reporter on the U.S. markets team focusing on stablecoins and institutional investment. He holds BTC and ETH.
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