Bitcoin whales trim holdings as retail absorbs supply near $80K
Bitcoin (BTC)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
ambcrypto.com reports that Bitcoin is entering a new market phase as whale holdings fell by 0.20% over three weeks while retail wallets added 0.09%. Larger holders are decreasing their aggression as smaller investors take on more available supply, with Bitcoin currently trading between $76,000 and $80,000. This dynamic suggests retail demand has not yet triggered strong FOMO, indicating long-term holders are selling some coins but not aggressively.
Short-term holders have remained profitable over the past month, alongside long-term holders who have returned to profit-taking. Specifically, short-term holders have generated close to $168 billion in profits while losing slightly less than $100 billion. This profitable structure reduces the risk of widespread selling at a loss, allowing the market to absorb profit-taking without falling back into broad losses.
Price broke sharply higher from $63,000 on August 19th, reaching $78,000 before entering consolidation. Since then, BTC has repeatedly failed near $80,000, with the latest rejection pushing it from nearly $79,500 back to $77,392. The $75,500 area has provided steady support throughout this range, keeping the broader recovery intact.
However, the RSI has slipped to 46.68, showing that momentum has cooled after the latest rejection. For the upside move to restart, BTC needs to reclaim $80,000 and break the $82,000 ceiling. Losing $75,500 could potentially harm the upswing, shifting focus to lower supports.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for BTC, measured when this story was written up on 15 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
BTC is trading at $78,189.21 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 56.6%, indicating strong immediate buying pressure that contrasts with the 45.5% ratio over the last four hours. The 24-hour buy ratio sits at 53.2%, suggesting that while short-term sentiment is bullish, the four-hour trend shows fading momentum. A positive volume delta of +$6,144,120 in the last hour signals that buyers are currently outspending sellers in the immediate term. However, the 4-hour volume delta is negative at -$17,299,455, reflecting that sellers have dominated the flow over the medium term. Over the past 24 hours, the cumulative volume delta closed at +$18,340,950, confirming that net buying has outweighed selling pressure over the full day. This activity occurred alongside a spot volume of $1,204,563,026 and 3,225,517 trades.
The latest daily buy ratio of 46.7% sits at the 18th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 49.2% - weaker buying than most days.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for BTC, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
This trading activity follows a week where the average buy ratio was 48.2%, making today’s 24-hour ratio of 53.2% an unusual day with a 5.0 point increase over the average. Spot volume was 1.15 times the weekly average, indicating heightened participation compared to typical days. While the 24-hour volume delta was positive, the 8-day total volume delta was -$304,872,412, showing that selling pressure has outweighed buying over the longer timeframe. Price has declined 1.2% over the past eight days, contrasting with the recent short-term bullish flow. Net buying occurred on only 2 of the last 7 days, suggesting this is not yet a consistent trend for the coin.