Bitcoin Falls Below $115K, Ethereum Dips to $4.2K as Whales Trigger Sell-Off

The broader crypto market took a tumble overnight, sending top assets including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) below key price levels. Market observation tools have linked this sudden price action to profit-taking activities by large asset holders.

Bitcoin Slides Below $115K as Whales Cash Out, Retail Traders Step In

Bitcoin has dropped below $115,200 at the time of writing, following an over 2% dip in the past 24 hours. Notably, this dip comes a few days after the OG crypto touched a fresh all-time high of $124,171.  

Data from the on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant shows that the Exchange Whale ratio recorded a sharp uptick, indicating that whales were liquidating their positions. For context, the Exchange Whale ratio measures the proportion of the total exchange inflows represented by the top ten transactions. 

Interestingly, retail entry at this level surged as traders rushed to capitalize on BTC’s price drop due to top holders cashing out. Over the past day, trading volume soared over 30% to $61.65 billion.  

Insights from Glassnode also reveal a shift in Bitcoin’s distribution from large addresses and institutional players to retail-focused hands. Crypto commentators view this move as a potential market stabilizer following the recent whale profit-taking exercise.  

Ether also felt the heat of the overnight market slip, dropping over 6% from its intraday peak to $ 4,239 as of press time. Similar to Bitcoin, ETH’s dip has been linked to significant liquidations by large wallets.

Crypto Market Faces $350M Liquidations as Bearish Sentiment Rises

The crypto market lost nearly $350 million in capital liquidations over the past day, leading to long positions losing $236 million. In that period, BTC’s Open Interest (OI) grew by a modest 0.15%. A surge in OI generally means that traders are entering new short positions.

Meanwhile, the BTC Long/Short ratio shows a notable spike in bearish entries over the past intraday session. As per on-chain data, the figure moved from 50% to 57%.

Here are other noteworthy trends over the past 24 hours:

• The total cryptocurrency market capitalization decreased to $3.87 trillion, reflecting a 3.83% decline over the past day.
• Daily trading volume rose sharply to $168.61 billion, marking a 38.05% increase and indicating heightened market activity.
• Bitcoin maintains a market dominance of 59.1%, while Ethereum accounts for 13.2%.
• Meanwhile, the CoinMarketCap 100 Index fell to $240.41, representing a 3.53% decline and signaling broad market weakness.
• The Fear and Greed Index eased slightly to 56, down from 57, pointing to a modest decline in market sentiment.

Prominent crypto personality Michaël van de Poppe offered his view on the market’s movement during the weekend. According to van de Poppe, the $120,000 price mark remains a key level for Bitcoin to break above.

Meanwhile, crypto maximalist Wolf maintains that the Ethereum price isn’t facing a correction. He added that the previous forecast of ETH surpassing $5,000 still holds. As the market unfolds, investors are actively watching what happens next.