Whale Accumulation Rises While Small Holders Distribute Bitcoin

• Whale accumulation rebounds sharply, signaling renewed confidence in April 2025.
• Retail and mid-sized holders shift to distribution as Bitcoin price retraces.
• Divergence in investor behavior may shape near-term Bitcoin market volatility.

Bitcoin’s on-chain activity suggests a shifting trend in investor behavior, with large holders resuming accumulation while smaller wallets continue to reduce exposure. As of early April 2025, Glassnode data reveals a widening divergence in accumulation patterns across cohorts, highlighting caution among retail investors and renewed confidence from high-value entities.

Whales holding over 10,000 BTC briefly hit an accumulation trend score near 1.0 at the start of April, reflecting intense buying over 15 days. Although this score has since moderated to approximately 0.65, it continues to signal steady accumulation.

According to Glassnode’s 30-day position change metric, this group has added more than 129,000 BTC since March 11. This pace of acquisition marks the strongest accumulation since late August 2024.

The average Bitcoin supply controlled by whale wallets has been increasing steadily since early March. Current values of the metrics show a definite accumulation pattern among the biggest holders although they remain lower than what was seen in December.

Retail and Mid-Sized Investors Trim Holdings

In contrast, wallets holding less than 1 BTC through to 100 BTC have shown declining accumulation scores, with values ranging from 0.1 to 0.2. This behavior points to active distribution rather than accumulation, particularly during the recent price retracement.

Between early February and early April, most investors moved from sustained accumulation to neutral or weak buying behavior. These changes are reflected in the “Trend Accumulation Score by Cohort” chart, which transitioned from blue (strong accumulation) to red and orange (distribution or neutrality) across wallet sizes.

Notably, during Bitcoin’s late 2024 rally, when prices surged past $90,000, all major cohorts participated in accumulation. However, as prices dropped below $85,000 in March, that momentum faded, with many investor groups opting to reduce exposure or halt additional buys.

February Marked Sharp Reduction in Whale Holdings

In February 2025, whale entities reduced their Bitcoin holdings . Between late January and mid-February, wallets holding 1,000 to 10,000 BTC saw a decline in supply per wallet, falling from over $700,000 to below $100,000. This drop coincided with relatively stable Bitcoin prices in the $50,000–$55,000 range, suggesting possible risk management or profit-taking behavior among large holders.

The whale holdings demonstrated minor improvements toward the end of March which suggested investors may reenter the market. Price fluctuations of short duration might occur due to changing supply dynamics because elite holder accumulation has increased and retail holders continue distributing their coins.