Buy-side momentum on red alert! Bitcoin "whales and dolphins" stop hoarding coins, market demand remains weak

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Cryptocurrency market buying is fizzling out. According to the latest report from CryptoQuant, Bitcoin's chip structure continues to deteriorate—not only have whale holders stopped accumulating, but even the ETF and corporate buying that previously supported the bull market are now noticeably cooling down. CryptoQuant's Head of Research, Julio Moreno, stated in the report that the asset balance of Bitcoin whales is shrinking year-on-year at the fastest pace this year. The situation closely mirrors the early stages of the 2022 bear market, when whale holders first stopped accumulating positions, then shifted to net selling, ultimately triggering a prolonged Bitcoin downturn. As for the "dolphins" representing institutional buying, although the asset balance of this category of holders is still growing, the growth rate has slowed significantly. Julio Moreno observed that the annual growth volume of the dolphin tier once peaked at 970,000 BTC in October 2025, but has since fallen sharply below the trend line. He noted: This undoubtedly confirms one thing: the structural demand engine driving this round of the market is in a state of persistent cooling. Large holders turn to wait-and-see, structural support sounds the alarm To accurately capture "the behavior of real investors," CryptoQuant specifically excluded cryptocurrency exchanges and mining pools from its calculations. They define "whales" as wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC; while "dolphins" are wallets holding between 100 and 1,000 BTC—these holders are mostly Bitcoin spot ETF issuers and companies that include cryptocurrency on their corporate balance sheets. The report further reveals that the monthly holding growth rates of both whales and dolphins are now approaching zero. Since September 2025, the monthly growth of the dolphin tier has continued to decline; while the monthly growth of whales has been stagnant since February 2026. Julio Moreno analyzed that this means large non-exchange holders have shifted from previously "aggressive accumulation" to "neutral wait-and-see," and have even begun slight distribution. He also warned that, looking back at historical data, when the holding growth rates of whales and dolphins simultaneously approach zero, it often signals the prelude to a prolonged price weakness. After all, these two main forces are the most core long-term sources of demand in the Bitcoin market. "Passive HODLing" embellishes the data, short-term buying lacks strength to absorb chips In addition, Julio Moreno pointed out a piece of data that is easily misinterpreted: long-term holders' Bitcoin supply has hit an all-time high, currently rising to 15.8 million BTC, but he believes this is not necessarily a bullish signal. Julio Moreno explained that the rise in long-term holders' supply is actually because there has been no large-scale chip turnover in the market. In other words, it's because short-term buying demand is overly weak and simply lacks the strength to absorb the chips held by long-term holders. Simply put, the growth in the data is merely because the original investors are "forced" to hold tight, rather than new buying flowing into the market. Meanwhile, the asset balance of short-term holders (those holding for less than 155 days) has also experienced a sharp contraction, plummeting from 6.4 million BTC in December 2025 to around 4.2 million BTC currently—a full evaporation of over 2.1 million BTC. Regarding this gap, Julio Moreno pointed out a technical blind spot: of these vanishing chips, as many as 900,000 BTC are simply because the holdings in Coinbase's reserves crossed the 155-day threshold, automatically being promoted from "short-term" to "long-term" in the system's classification. This kind of "mechanical inflation" based on the passage of time not only embellishes the long-term holders' data but also fails to bring real new demand to the market. In recent weeks, Julio Moreno has repeatedly issued warnings, emphasizing that Bitcoin demand remains sluggish, and the current market structure is strikingly similar to that just before the bear market erupted in March 2022. According to CoinGecko data, Bitcoin has plunged steadily after breaking through the all-time high of $126,000 last October, with the latest quote currently fluctuating near $73,700. Faced with the current market conditions, investors may need to fasten their seatbelts and respond cautiously.

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