Bitcoin's decline started over the weekend… Was it led by whale investors?

Bitcoin showed a slight selling trend on July 4th, revealing rare movements of long-dormant whale wallets and notable changes in whale accumulation trends based on on-chain data.

Major cryptocurrencies briefly reached $111,000 before retreating to around $107,600 by noon. The intraday decline of about 2% occurred amid abnormally high on-chain activity from early Bitcoin holders and weakened whale indicators.

Whale Accumulation Trend Turns Negative

CryptoQuant's on-chain indicators show deeper structural changes. The 30-day percentage change in total whale holdings has turned negative for the first time in six months.

Whale holdings steadily increased from 3.28 million BTC in January to 3.55 million BTC in June. This accumulation phase supported Bitcoin's price recovery throughout the first and second quarters.

However, this upward trend has now reversed. The decrease in net whale holdings indicates the beginning of a distribution phase where large holders are starting to sell or reallocate their capital.

Historically, such negative changes in this indicator have coincided with short to medium-term corrections. Institutional and long-term holders often reduce positions or prepare for liquidity events.

If more dormant coins move or selling pressure increases, the support zone near $105,000 could be retested in the short term.

Bitcoin Whales Awaken After 14 Years

Seven dormant Bitcoin wallets dating back to April and May 2011 transferred a combined 70,000 BTC worth $7.6 billion in the past 24 hours.

Blockchain data shows these addresses had been inactive for over 14 years. At the time of receipt, BTC was trading for less than $4.

The same holdings are now worth billions of dollars.

The coordinated nature of these movements suggests they likely belong to a single entity, possibly an early miner or institutional custodian.

At least 12 transactions were recorded today, each moving 10,000 BTC. Analysts have labeled this as originating from a whale cluster marked as "BTC Whale 4th July".

These funds were transferred to new addresses, but exchange deposits have not yet been confirmed.

One transaction was tracked that consolidated 180 block rewards into a single output of 9,000 BTC.

These rewards were obtained during Bitcoin's first reward era, indicating coins from early solo mining operations.

The timing coinciding with US Independence Day is also drawing attention. Some analysts interpret the symbolic date intentionally, reflecting past instances where whale activity aligned with major calendar events.

No coins have been sold yet, but the market often reacts proactively to such movements.