Bitcoin climbed above $126,000 in early October and recently crashed to $60,000 before a modest recovery near $68,000. Despite the brutal swing, many entities are still buying the asset, betting on a much-anticipated price appreciation.

But a certain cohort of BTC holders has reduced this pace.

Demand Deceleration

Data shared by Alphractal revealed that the Short-Term Holder Net Position Change over 90 days is declining, despite remaining in positive territory. This means that while short-term holders are still accumulating Bitcoin, the pace of accumulation has slowed sharply in recent days.

According to the analytics platform, this deceleration points to weakening short-term demand momentum and has historically preceded periods of market consolidation, increased volatility, or broader regime transitions.

Against this backdrop, Alphractal founder Joao Wedson said that recent institutional buying has not translated into stronger short-term holder demand.

“Even with the news of Strategy accumulating and other institutional entities increasing their positions, Short-Term Holders are not accumulating at the same pace as they were 90 days ago. Analyzing a few isolated entities is not enough. The correct approach is to evaluate the entire Bitcoin blockchain to understand the true underlying demand”

Whale Holdings Differ

Separate analysis from CryptoQuant points to a contrasting trend among large Bitcoin holders. It found that whale accumulation has increased by more than 200,000 BTC.

Although whale inflows to exchanges have risen recently, which is often associated with short-term selling activity, their overall holdings have continued to grow. To capture a more medium-term perspective, the analysis tracks whale-held supply using monthly averages rather than short-term flows. After this metric fell sharply to nearly -7% on December 15, whale behavior appears to have changed over the past month, as evidenced by holdings increasing by 3.4%.

During this period, the amount of Bitcoin held by whales rose from around 2.9 million BTC to over 3.1 million BTC. The last time an accumulation of this scale occurred was during the April 2025 market correction, when whale buying helped absorb selling pressure and Bitcoin’s advance from $76,000 to $126,000. CryptoQuant explained that the crypto asset is currently consolidating almost 46% below its most recent all-time high. Hence, some whales may be taking advantage of this opportunity.

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