Big bitcoin holders appear to be selling their tokens, threatening to drag the cryptocurrency deeper into the red, according to Citigroup. “On-chain data indicates a gradual decline in Bitcoin ‘whales’ (addresses holding large amounts of Bitcoin), while smaller ‘retail’ wallets have increased,” Citi analyst Alex Saunders said Tuesday in a note to clients. “Some large, long-time holders may have turned to sellers.” Bitcoin plunged more than 6% on Tuesday, briefly falling below a critical $100,000 support level for the first time since late June, as investor sentiment toward cryptocurrencies and AI-linked stocks soured amid concerns the risk-on assets might be overvalued. The recent price action marks a continuation of bitcoin’s downward trend over the past few weeks. Last month, the token’s historic October seasonal tailwinds failed to materialize for the first time since 2018, largely due to a flare up in U.S.-China trade tensions as well as cascading liquidations of highly leveraged digital asset positions in the middle of the month. Bitcoin was last trading up 3.2% at $103,788.13. The leading cryptocurrency is down 6% over the past week.
