Whale Bitcoin is taking profit and delaying breakout

Bitcoin is still hovering around the $110,000 mark despite reaching a new ATH last week. According to on-chain data, the lack of breakout momentum may be due to whales starting to take profit.

Since April 20, the price of Bitcoin has increased by over 30% from $84,000. However, the price rally has stalled since reaching an ATH of $111,970 on May 22. Analysts indicate that the stabilization of the price just below $110,000 may be related to selling pressure from newly established whale addresses.

Are new whales restricting the rise of Bitcoin?

CryptoQuant's analysis shows a clear pattern. Most of the profits made in the past month came from new whales who took advantage of the price increase to take profit.

These are investors who bought BTC at an average price of $91,922.

"With the recent price surge, it's important to monitor whether new or old whales are taking profits. Surprisingly, data shows that 82.5% of the profits gained since April 20 came from new whales," said J.A. Maartunn of CryptoQuant.

Data also shows that new Bitcoin whales have made a profit of approximately 3.21 billion USD. This figure is much larger than the 679 million USD from old whale wallets.

This profit rotation seems to be creating resistance just below the $112,000 level.

Additionally, the following CryptoQuant chart reflects how this trend occurred before BTC reached its ATH last week. The blue bars, representing new whale wallets, dominated the take profit phases (the gray line) since the end of April.

Source: CryptoQuantConversely, previous spikes in take profit – such as the events of 811 million USD and 255 million USD in February and March, are believed to be due to older whale wallets.

Meanwhile, the take profit trend continues this week.

This behavioral change indicates that new whales are taking advantage of recent peak levels to exit positions they entered during the downturn of Q1. These exits create continuous selling pressure, preventing further upward momentum.

At the same time, older whale wallets remain largely inactive. Their reluctance to sell may signal long-term confidence in Bitcoin's trajectory, potentially limiting downside risk in the near future.

Until the whale sell-off calms down, Bitcoin may struggle to break strongly above the current level. Market watchers need to consider whether this group will continue to sell off or stop, allowing BTC to spark new momentum.

Vincent