Bitcoin has absorbed roughly $1.26 billion in net selling over the past ten days without breaking its range near $76,000. CryptoQuant traces most of the selling to whales and BlackRock's IBIT fund, while corporate treasury buying and OTC desks have kept the pressure from hitting the open market.
Bitcoin is trading around $76,000, absorbing a level of sell pressure that would have triggered a double-digit correction a couple of years ago. Over the past ten days, roughly $1.26 billion in net Bitcoin selling hit the market, yet the price barely moved.
Whales and BlackRock's IBIT lead the selling
On-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant identified the sellers as predominantly whales and long-term holders, who offloaded between $1 billion and $1.2 billion worth of Bitcoin within a two-week window. A significant chunk of the action traces back to BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, known by its ticker IBIT: the fund saw a dark-pool block sale of approximately $1.26 billion, covering roughly 29.2 million shares. Dark-pool trades execute off public exchanges to avoid moving the market.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs added further pressure, logging net outflows for between 9 and 12 consecutive trading days in late May, with redemptions regularly reaching into the hundreds of millions. However, CryptoQuant's data added a nuance: the distribution came primarily from shorter-term whale wallets rather than widespread capitulation among the broader holder base.
Treasuries and OTC desks absorb the blow
Corporate treasury buying stepped in as a major counterweight, with MicroStrategy continuing significant acquisitions during the period. CryptoQuant noted that whale distribution predominantly bypassed the open market, instead favoring broker and over-the-counter transactions that match large buyers with large sellers directly, keeping massive orders from hitting exchange order books.
Sporadic ETF inflows during other stretches also helped offset the pressure. The headline figure shows net selling, but the flows weren't uniformly negative: some days saw capital return, partially offsetting the redemption trend.
What to watch next
Sustained ETF redemptions could eventually overwhelm the buy-side demand that's keeping Bitcoin stable, especially if the corporate treasury bid slows down.
Source: Crypto Briefing
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
