Bitcoin Plunges Below $65K as Whales Dump Holdings

Bitcoin crashed hard Sunday night. The cryptocurrency fell over 5% in just two hours, breaking below the $65,000 level as major holders rushed to exchanges and panicked retail investors sold at steep losses.

Trading volume exploded during the selloff, showing this wasn’t some gradual decline but active dumping by big players. Bitcoin hit around $64,500 by Monday morning, down nearly $3,500 from Saturday’s close. The drop came after bitcoin failed to hold the $67,000 range, smashing through what traders thought was solid support. Market makers got caught off guard by the speed of the decline, with several noting they hadn’t seen this kind of coordinated selling since the FTX collapse. Order books thinned out fast as the price fell, making each sell order push bitcoin down even harder.

Things got messy quick.

CryptoQuant’s data shows whale activity spiked to levels not seen in nearly a decade. The exchange whale ratio hit 0.64, the highest reading since 2015, meaning big holders were moving serious amounts of bitcoin to exchanges. That’s never a good sign when you’re hoping for price stability. The average deposit size reached 1.58 BTC, also the highest since mid-2022, confirming that whales were behind the selling pressure. Ki Young Ju, CryptoQuant’s CEO, said the data pointed to “coordinated distribution by large holders.” Exchange inflows stayed elevated even after the initial crash, suggesting more selling could be coming.

Per multiple sources, the selling wasn’t random.

Bitcoin had been pretty much stuck in a tight range before this happened, failing to crack the $71,800 resistance level that’s been holding since January. Last week, bitcoin was trading around $67,000, looking stable but not really going anywhere. Sellers had been building up pressure for days, waiting for the right moment to push prices lower. Some institutional players were still buying though – Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company increased its stake in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust during the same period. Al Warda Investments also boosted its holdings in the same trust, showing that not everyone was running for the exits.

But the big money was definitely moving out. Strategy, the company that’s been bitcoin’s biggest corporate cheerleader, actually bought more during the crash. They picked up another 2,486 BTC for $168.4 million, bringing their total to 717,131 BTC. Strategy’s Michael Saylor hinted on Twitter that they might buy even more this week, despite sitting on an unrealized loss of $5.8 billion. That’s some serious conviction, or maybe just stubborn optimism. See also: Bitcoin Tumbles Below K as Trading.

Major exchanges haven’t said much yet. No official statements about the whale activity or what it means for the market going forward.

James Carter from BlockAnalytica thinks February’s been a mess for bitcoin stability. He said major holders are basically controlling the market right now, and their actions are making things way more volatile than they should be. On February 20, bitcoin tried to recover, briefly touching $66,200 before sellers hammered it back down. That failed bounce probably scared off more buyers who were waiting to see if the dip was over.

Grayscale Investments bought more bitcoin for their trust on February 22, showing they’re still bullish long-term despite the chaos. Their strategy team said they see this as a buying opportunity, not a reason to panic. Meanwhile, Binance reported trading volume on the BTC/USDT pair jumped 20% compared to the previous week as traders scrambled to react to the price moves.

Coinbase got slammed with traffic during the crash, with transaction volumes hitting levels not seen since late 2025. A company spokesperson confirmed that retail investors were driving most of the activity, probably panic selling as the price dropped. Glassnode released a report on February 22 showing that whale selling had made order books thinner, which explains why each sell order was having such a big impact on price.

Kraken saw short positions increase by 15% as traders bet on more downside. That kind of bearish sentiment usually means the selling isn’t over yet. But Fidelity Digital Assets pointed out something interesting – the number of wallets holding at least 1 BTC actually hit an all-time high on February 25. Smaller investors were buying the dip while whales were selling. More on this topic: BITmarkets Warns Bitcoin Faces Extended Sideways.

CME Group said open interest in bitcoin futures dropped 12% over the past week. Traders are pulling back from derivatives, which makes sense when nobody knows where the price is heading next. Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz tried to stay positive on February 26, saying bitcoin’s fundamentals haven’t changed and this selloff creates buying opportunities for patient investors.

The market’s basically waiting to see what whales do next.

The Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes, released just hours before the crash, showed officials remain concerned about inflation persistence despite recent cooling. Several Fed members indicated they’re prepared to maintain higher interest rates longer than previously expected, which typically pressures risk assets like bitcoin. Cryptocurrency markets have grown increasingly sensitive to monetary policy signals since institutional adoption accelerated.

Meanwhile, the timing coincided with quarter-end rebalancing by major funds. Portfolio managers often reduce exposure to volatile assets like bitcoin before reporting periods to smooth out returns. BlackRock’s IBIT saw $127 million in outflows on Friday, while Fidelity’s FBTC recorded $89 million in redemptions. These ETF flows created additional selling pressure that amplified the whale-driven decline, creating a feedback loop that pushed prices lower faster than many expected.