Key takeaways:

Large Bitcoin holders have accumulated 81,338 BTC over the past six weeks, showing confidence in a future price uptrend.

Wallets with less than 0.1 BTC sold around 290 BTC, indicating smaller retail investors are either panic selling or selling out of boredom. 

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen $4.41 billion in inflows since March 26.

While larger Bitcoin holders remain confident and continue accumulating the asset, data from a crypto analytics platform shows that smaller retail investors have been shedding BTC amid the asset’s prolonged consolidation below the $100,000 price level.

The contrasting behavior between Bitcoin (BTC) whales and retail investors often signals that Bitcoin may be heading toward another upward trend, Santiment said in a May 6 X post. 

Bitcoin smaller players show cold feet

“When large wallets gradually accumulate in tandem with retail panic selling/selling out of boredom, it is generally a strong long-term sign of prices biding their time before another breakout,” Santiment said.

Bitcoin wallet holders with between 10 and 10,000 BTC have accumulated a combined 81,338 BTC over the past six weeks since March 26.

This represents a 0.61% increase in the cohort’s total holdings. Santiment said this could signal a potential retest of the psychological $100,000 price level in the near future. “As May progresses, Bitcoin’s key stakeholders are mostly moving in the right direction if you’re rooting for $100K BTC in the near future,” Santiment said.

However, Bitcoin wallets with less than 0.1 BTC sold off approximately 290 Bitcoin over the same period. Since March 26, Bitcoin has traded between $76,273 and $97,210, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Bitcoin is trading at $96,360 at the time of publication. Source: CoinMarketCap

Bitcoin fell below $100,000 on Feb. 1 after US President Donald Trump announced his tariffs and has yet to reclaim that price level. At the time of publication, Bitcoin is trading at $96,360.

Meanwhile, spot Bitcoin ETF holders have accumulated over the same period, with US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs totaling $4.41 billion in inflows since March 26, according to Farside data. 

Bitcoin dominance continues to soar

The overall crypto market is still concentrated around Bitcoin. Bitcoin dominance reached 65% on May 6, the highest reading since January 2021, according to TradingView data. 

Related: Watch these Bitcoin price levels as BTC meets ‘decision point’

At the time of publication, the metric is 65.19%. Meanwhile, CoinMarketCap’s altcoin season index still reads “Bitcoin Season,” indicating the market is favoring Bitcoin over altcoins.

While several analysts have been eyeing new all-time highs by the end of June, Bitfinex analysts recently said that Bitcoin needs to continue to hold above the $95,000 level to climb back and retest its all-time high or face an even deeper correction.

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This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.