🚨 Market Shock: Top Crypto Traders Dump BTC & ETH—Bull Run Over?
Crypto's biggest whales are hitting the eject button. Bitcoin and Ethereum—the twin pillars of digital asset markets—are seeing unprecedented bearish bets from institutional traders. What sparked the sudden loss of faith?
Futures markets flash red as leveraged positions unwind. Open interest in BTC perpetual swaps dropped 18% in 72 hours—the steepest decline since the 2022 Luna collapse. ETH options traders now price in 30% downside protection, the highest skew since FTX imploded.
Meanwhile, Wall Street's crypto desk jockeys are suddenly 'discovering risk management' (how novel). Their prime brokerage units quietly slashed margin limits for altcoin collateral—just as retail FOMO starts bubbling again. Classic 'pump-and-dump' optics, if you ask any cynic who remembers 2017.
But here's the twist: blockchain analytics show accumulation continuing at wallet addresses linked to... wait for it... the same institutions now publicly sounding alarms. Maybe this 'sentiment shift' smells more like a liquidity grab before the next leg up?
He forecast a possible slide in ether’s price to between $3,200 and $3,600, warning the market was “not ready to find out what happens when that buying dissipates.” His comments follow the launch of ETH DATs (Deposit Access Tokens), which drove short-term demand but may now face a vacuum of momentum.
The bearish tone comes against the backdrop of a record-breaking validator exit queue, with 885,000 ETH ($3.8 billion) awaiting withdrawal from Ethereum’s staking mechanism, as CoinDesk reported last week.
Much of the movement reflects profit-taking, the unwinding of risky leveraged staking strategies, and preparations for the launch of potential ETH staking ETFs. Large liquid staking players like Lido have seen hundreds of thousands of ETH withdrawn, adding to market jitters about potential forced liquidations.
Pseudonymous trader Flood also became increasingly vocal about the downside risk on Monday, telling followers: “Back to $2k you go Ethereum, where you belong.”
The comments reflect a stark shift in sentiment, demonstrating the fragile psychology that drives crypto markets where bullish and bearish narratives can quickly unravel.
For astute traders, however, the shift in sentiment can be seen as opportunity; as Wall Street veteran once said: “Buy when there’s blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own.”
