The cryptocurrency market concluded the weekend positively after a week dominated by declines. Over the past 24 hours, the total market capitalization increased by 1.1%, indicating a slight rebound.
As prices began to stabilize, large investors, commonly known as whales, became more active in both derivatives and spot markets, indicating a strategic shift amidst the recent fluctuations.
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Surge in Whale Activity as BTC, ETH, and ENA Show Diverging Market Bets
A significant increase in whale activity was observed in the derivatives market, with traders toggling between protective shorts and high-leverage longs for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ethena (ENA) to navigate the volatility.
According to an on-chain analyst, a crypto whale who previously shorted BTC last week has now adopted a bullish stance. This whale manages approximately $250 million across BTC and ETH.
The trader’s portfolio features a 15x long position on 1,610.93 BTC ($173 million) and a 3x long position on 19,894.21 ETH ($77.4 million). Although facing past losses exceeding $10 million, their unrealized deficit has now decreased to about $3.1 million.
Conversely, another whale has opted for a different strategy, reportedly depositing 30 million USDC into Hyperliquid and initiating a 10x short position on 700 BTC, valued at roughly $75.5 million.
“Entry price $109,133.1, liquidation price $150,082.9, now reflecting an unrealized profit of $455,000,” shared an on-chain analyst posted.
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The same investor had earlier gained $160 million from shorting Bitcoin during the October 11 crash.
Further intensifying the bearish sentiment, Andrew Kang reported that wallets opened $68 million in new short positions, totaling 10,275 ETH at 25x leverage and 269 BTC at 40x.
Interestingly, despite the bearish outlook, Kang has maintained his long position in ENA, indicating selective confidence in specific altcoins. His trading activities have reportedly netted around $5.6 million in profits over the previous week.
Other traders have also demonstrated optimism toward ENA while keeping short positions in the two major cryptocurrencies. Based on data from Lookonchain, a whale known as 0x579f holds mixed positions totaling around $70 million — which includes shorts of 232 BTC ($25 million) and 5,810 ETH ($22.7 million), along with a long position of 44.79 million ENA ($21.3 million).
Despite this, some traders remain bearish even on ENA.
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What Crypto Whales Bought and Sold After the October Crash
Spot markets experienced significant movements as major crypto players adjusted their portfolios, with some taking advantage of the opportunity to buy the dip. Ethereum-focused firm BitMine made a prominent transaction, acquiring $1.5 billion worth of ETH.
This large-scale acquisition signifies renewed institutional faith in Ethereum’s long-term fundamentals, despite the tumult in the recent market.
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El Salvador discreetly augmented its Bitcoin reserves, acquiring 8 additional BTC over the past week. The Central American nation now holds a total of 6,355.18 BTC. Concurrently, exchange data indicates steady accumulation overall.
Major centralized exchanges recorded a net outflow of around 21,000 BTC during the past week. Coinbase Pro and Binance led this trend, withdrawing 15,000 BTC and 12,000 BTC, respectively.
Activity extended beyond the two leading cryptocurrencies. In the Chainlink (LINK) ecosystem, a newly established wallet withdrew 142,428 LINK (roughly valued at $2.4 million) from Binance.
“It appears LINK was accumulated. Within a 12-hour period, 892.46k $LINK (~$15M) were withdrawn from Binance. Over the past week, a total of 2.31M $LINK (~$40.76M) were withdrawn from Binance,” stated another analyst reported.
The combination of high-leverage positioning in derivatives and consistent accumulation in spot markets highlights a divided yet active landscape. While some whales are betting on further declines, others are quietly building positions, indicating confidence that the most severe volatility of October may be behind them.
