Summary:
Bitcoin hovers around $114,000 as a whale predicts further BTC price declines.
Pricing challenges short-term holders, whose cost basis is just below the $114,000 level.
Important moving averages serve as potential support levels.
Bitcoin (BTC) faced difficulties maintaining its rebound during Monday’s Wall Street opening as a notable whale increased their bet on BTC price declines.
Bitcoin whale intensifies BTC price shorting
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicated that BTC/USD retreated from daily highs of $116,000.
The pair promptly closed an upward “gap” in the CME Group’s Bitcoin futures market before dropping beneath the daily opening value.
$BTC CME Gap has now been closed ✅ https://t.co/Cd6fq3Na1A pic.twitter.com/OWy2aa1bb6
— Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) October 13, 2025
Markets reacted indifferently to statements from the US government regarding a potential US-China trade agreement that might prevent a significant tariff escalation.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced upcoming “working level” discussions with China later this week.
“This appears to be a tactical escalation (from Beijing) aimed at influencing pre-summit negotiations, rather than a strategic decoupling,” analysts from Morgan Stanley noted in a report, as quoted by sources including Reuters.
As traders awaited signals, focus shifted to an unidentified Bitcoin whale who capitalized on Friday’s $20 billion liquidation by shorting ahead of the Chinese news release.
On Monday, this entity expanded its short position, which was valued at 3,500 BTC with a liquidation threshold of around $120,000 at the time of writing.
“As I mentioned yesterday, perhaps they want to incur losses or get liquidated to prevent any assumptions of insider trading,” crypto analyst and entrepreneur Ted Pillows commented in a post on X.
Commentator Max Keiser suggested potential foul play, alleging that “banks are financing (i.e., printing) billions to support naked Bitcoin shorts.”
“It won’t succeed,” he asserted.
Bitcoin speculators fluctuate between gain and loss
BTC price activity thus oscillated around a crucial support line, represented by the combined cost basis of short-term holders (STHs).
Related: $120K or end of bull market? Key insights on Bitcoin this week
As Cointelegraph highlighted, STH wallets, associated with entities holding for up to six months, serve as a buffer during downturns in bull markets.
Data from on-chain analytics platform Glassnode indicated the STH cost basis stood at $113,861 as of Sunday.
Additionally, on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant identified three critical trend lines worth observing: the 30-day, 90-day, and 200-day simple moving averages (SMAs).
In one of its “Quicktake” articles released that day, contributor Arab Chain noted:
“This structure implies that the long-term foundational uptrend is still intact (as the price remains above the 200-DMA), but short- to medium-term tactical momentum has diminished, with the price now falling below the 30- and 90-DMA, which have converged into a dynamic resistance zone.”
This article does not provide investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading actions carry risk, and readers are encouraged to perform their own research before making decisions.
