Bitcoin’s Whale Sales Don’t Signal A Meltdown

Bitcoin dropped from $96,000 On Friday’s heavy sales and the falling appetite for risk, traders and analysts are unsure whether it is a normal case of profit-taking, or an important turning point in the market.

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The drop in November was more than 10 percent, according to reports from the on-chain or market.

Attention Drawn to Whale Transfers

Reports have disclosed that a wallet tied to trader Owen Gunden moved 2,400 Bitcoin — about $237 million — onto the Kraken exchange, a transfer tracked by blockchain watcher Arkham.

Glassnode analysis shows that long-term holders are spending more BTC each day. This week, their average is 26,000 BTC.

OWEN GUNDEN SELECTED AND SOLD ANOTHER BTC OF $290M

Owen Gunden has just transferred all the BTC that remained from his account. He deposited $290.7M worth of BTC, or over HALF the total amount of his BTC holdings into Kraken.

Now, he has just $250M in Bitcoin left. pic.twitter.com/ZUB3aToAgH

— Arkham (@arkham) November 13, 2025

Glassnode’s analysts believe that the pattern is more indicative of a gradual distribution from older investors rather than an abrupt mass withdrawal. The profit-taking is being described as a late-cycle phenomenon: steady, regular and dispersed.

Santiment claims that Bitcoin is now below $100K, for the second consecutive month. Retail traders have expressed their concern and fear in a series of posts.

📉 Bitcoin is now trading below $100,000 for the second consecutive month. This has, as expected, caused an upsurge of fear and concern on social media from traders. Below:

🟥: Significant bullish/greedy bias (usually when markets are getting too much FOMO, prices will go… pic.twitter.com/rowUv3xIMd

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) November 13, 2025

No Meltdown: Late-Cycle Signals And On-Chain Readings

Vincent Liu of Kronos Research revealed that in the final phases of a cycle, structured selling and steady rotating gains can often be seen.

He said that this doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the market, as long there are still willing buyers to absorb any extra supplies.

He said that being in a “late cycle” doesn’t necessarily mean the market is at a plateau. The market is just showing signs of a slowed momentum, he explained. Now, macrotrends, liquidity and larger forces are taking control.

“Rate-cut doubts and recent market weakness have slowed the climb, not ended it,” Liu said. There’s nothing like a meltdown, or even something similar.

Bitcoin’s Net Unrealized Profit Ratio was near 0.4766, which some traders interpret to be a sign of a short-term bottom forming.

Liu said that this reading was only one among many signals and should be monitored along with liquidity and macro-conditions.

Looking at monthly averages of spending by holders over a long period shows a distinct trend. The outflows have increased from approximately 12.5k BTC/day early in July, to roughly 26.5k today (30D SMA).
This steady rise reflects increasing distribution pressure from older investor cohorts — a… pic.twitter.com/wECe58CV66

— glassnode (@glassnode) November 13, 2025

Prices and Stocks are to Blame for the Market’s Pain

Cryptocurrency sell-off The market plunged as stocks related to cryptography plummeted. Broader markets were weak as well, with the Nasdaq down 2% and the S&P 500 off 1.3%.

Cipher Mining was down 14%. Riot Platforms and Hut 8 were both down 13%. MARA Holdings and Bitmine Immersion fell over 10%. Coinbase and Strategy fell about 7%.

According to reports, institutional flow has pushed prices up. According to reports, firms including BlackRock Binance Wintermute sold over $1 billion worth of Bitcoin in a selling wave that caused a 5% price drop within minutes.

Meanwhile, social sentiment turned sharply negative, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index hit 15, reflecting “extreme fear” There are many traders.

Chart from TradingView, image from Unsplash