How much Bitcoin does the average whale hold?
2024.09.03 15:22
The number of Bitcoin (BTC) whale transactions worth $100,000+ has declined by 48% since March 2024 and Bitcoin’s price has dropped 20% in the same period.
So how has the behavior of Bitcoin’s wealthiest investors impacted price, and how much BTC does the average whale hold?
Bitcoin addresses with 1K+ BTC hold 40% of supply
Data from Santiment, a data analytics platform, highlights that BTC whale transactions decreased to 60.2K during the last week of August from a high of 115.1K between March 13 and March 19.
Despite decreasing whale activity over the past six months, the long-term accumulation by whale addresses remains relatively high.
Meanwhile, data from Intotheblock highlights that Bitcoin addresses holding between 1,000-10,000 BTC comprise the largest share of the total Bitcoin supply at 24.17%.
As illustrated in the chart below, addresses holding between 10 and 100 BTC and 100 and 1,000 BTC also account for a high share of supply, at 22.08% and 20.32%, respectively.
Bitcoin ownership chart. Source: intotheblock
Addresses holding 10-100 BTC held the largest share of the BTC supply until March 2019, after which Bitcoin whales (minimum 1,000 BTC) increased in population.
Bitcoin balance by holdings. Source: Intotheblock
The supply held by the whales (1,000 BTC-10,000 BTC) peaked in January 2021, with the total share reaching 30%. Since then, it has dropped to 24.17%, with redistribution taking place among the other two groups.
What is the average whale stash?
While the supply held by the above cohorts is close to 60%, the average supply per whale is under 1000. Onchain data from Glassnode shows that the supply per whale is close to 550 BTC at the moment.
Bitcoin supply per whale (100-10K BTC). Source: glassnode
However, it is important to note that addresses above 100 BTC are considered as whales in the above chart.
Specifically, the Supply per Whale metric was originally created by Charles Edwards to gauge the accumulation and distribution behavior of large Bitcoin holders.
It is defined as the total supply owned by addresses holding 100 to 10K BTC, divided by the address count.
Thus, it will increase when whales accumulate and decrease during distribution events.
However, if we consider addresses with more than 1,000-10,000 BTC as legitimate whales, the average supply per address is around 2,401.
Whale accumulation heatmap indicates support at $52K BTC
Source: Chainexposed
Bitcoin whale accumulation heatmap indicates that BTC around $52,000 has support from a massive cohort of buyers. Data indicates high buyer concentration from $51.5K to $52.3K during February 2024.
Interestingly, BTC price rallied 42% after whale accumulation at that particular range in Q1, 2024.
BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
The same range may act as a demand and support zone for Bitcoin if it undergoes another correction down to that price point.
Related: Bitcoin price nearly hits $60K but traders still see bearish September
Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin has rallied 2% but it currently faces resistance from the 200-day EMA ( orange indicator).
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
