Retail investors are showing remarkable confidence by buying the dip despite a significant sell-off by a prominent crypto whale. The recent transactions have stirred up the Bitcoin and crypto markets, particularly influencing the market’s short-term trajectory.

Early Thursday in Asian trading hours, Bitcoin’s price plummeted to $57,800, marking a two-month low. Despite this drop, the price recovered up to $59,000 by the time of writing.

Crypto Whale Sold Over $400 Million Worth of Bitcoin

Amidst the Bitcoin volatility, a crypto whale wallet, 3G98j, deposited an eye-watering 1,800 BTC, valued at $106.08 million, into Binance. Hours after the first deposit, the crypto whale again sent 1,800 BTC worth nearly $100 million to the same platform.

Typically, such large deposits to a crypto exchange suggest a potential sale. In the past week alone, this crypto whale has transferred a total of 5,281 BTC—worth around $423 million to Binance.

Despite these considerable sell-offs, the reaction from retail investors has been notably bullish. According to data from Santiment, a behavior analytics platform, the retail sector is aggressively purchasing Bitcoin under the $60,000 mark.

“The crowd is showing signs of seeing this as a buy-the-dip opportunity. Ideally, we wait for their enthusiasm to settle down. The time to buy is when they are impatient and skeptical,” Santiment explained.

Read more: Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction 2024/2025/2030

Cold Blooded Shiller, a pseudonymous crypto analyst on X (formerly Twitter), echoes this sentiment. He provided a nuanced take on the current market conditions, noting novice traders’ challenges.

“Conditions remain significantly weighted on the downside, and the momentum is all there. Adapting to the side with the momentum is incredibly important, but that doesn’t make it a necessity to trade,” he advised.

Furthermore, Cold Blooded Shiller elaborated on the risks and strategies in current market conditions. He emphasized the need for patience and strategic disengagement, suggesting that many’s best course of action might be to avoid active trading.

“For many of you, sitting on the sidelines and doing other things is the biggest alpha I can bestow upon you,” Cold Blooded Shiller stated.

Moreover, he highlighted the psychological aspect of trading under such volatile conditions. He advised retail traders to let things settle down and reduce their emotions when timing the market, reinforcing the need for strategic patience until the market shows signs of a positive momentum shift.

Read more: Cryptocurrency Trading Courses Tailored for Beginners

The contrast between the crypto whale’s actions and retail investors’ enthusiasm paints a complex picture of the Bitcoin market. While large holders appear to be cashing out, the broader investor base remains optimistic, seeing the lower prices as an attractive entry point.

American entrepreneur and Bitcoin bull Anthony Pompliano has again affirmed his bullish sentiment towards the flagship crypto. This time, he advised investors on what they should be doing during this BTC dip and suggested that there was no need to be concerned despite Bitcoin’s recent underperformance. 

Bitcoin Dips Are For Buying

In an interview with FOX Business, Pompliano mentioned that Bitcoin dips are buying opportunities and that every “great investor” who knows what they have understands they should buy more when prices move against them. He further claimed that anyone questioning whether or not they should be buying more during this BTC dip may actually not know what they own, alluding to Bitcoin’s potential. 

Pompliano made these statements while noting that retail and institutional investors are beginning to realize that Bitcoin is a “resilient” asset that will be worth more in the next five to ten years than it is now. The American entrepreneur also explained how BTC has matured compared to previous market cycles while still achieving impressive growth.

He stated that Bitcoin experienced several 30% and 25% price corrections in the 2017 and 2021 bull runs. However, things have improved in this market cycle, with the flagship crypto only experiencing price drawdowns of about 15%. He claimed that this shows that BTC’S volatility is dampening. 

Meanwhile, he also noted that BTC has the Spot Bitcoin ETFs in this market cycle, which was lacking in the previous bull runs. He believes these funds will be a major catalyst for Bitcoin’s run heading toward year-end. Pompliano predicts that Bitcoin can hit a new all-time high (ATH) before the end of 2024.

However, he warned that BTC may no longer appreciate as high or as fast as it used to now that institutions are invested in the flagship crypto through the Spot Bitcoin ETFs. He again remarked that this is because the entrance of these institutional investors has dampened Bitcoin’s volatility. 

Thoughts On The Spot Ethereum ETFs

Pompliano also gave his thoughts on the Spot Ethereum ETFs and when they could begin trading. He stated that these funds will likely start trading sometime this summer. He added that they could begin trading sooner rather than later based on rumors that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is close to approving these funds. 

He believes that Ethereum has a problem that BTC doesn’t and suggests that this could negatively impact the amount of inflows that the Spot Ethereum ETFS attracts. According to Pompliano, Bitcoin has a single narrative as it is known as a ‘store of value’, which he believes has been enough to convince investors to invest in the flagship crypto. 

On the other hand, he said that Ethereum has many narratives, which creates a confusing story for the second-largest crypto token by market cap. He noted that this could be a big problem for the Spot Ethereum ETFs since institutional investors could easily be confused by what Ethereum is about and opt against investing in these funds. 

Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com

The winds of volatility swept through the crypto market in June, sending the price of Bitcoin tumbling by $10,000. News of a massive Mt. Gox repayment, miner sell-offs, and government-related liquidations all contributed to the price dip.

Yet, amidst the bearish sentiment, a surprising trend emerged: investors in spot Bitcoin ETFs held their ground. This unexpected resilience has analysts questioning their initial assumptions about both Bitcoin’s price trajectory and the risk tolerance of a new generation of investors – baby boomers.

Bitcoin price down in June. Source: Coingecko

ETFs Show Steady Hand

Traditionally seen as a haven for stability, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) have become a gateway for mainstream investors to enter the volatile world of cryptocurrency. Spot Bitcoin ETFs, which directly track the price of Bitcoin, launched in the US earlier this year and were met with initial enthusiasm.

However, concerns arose when the Bitcoin price started its descent in June. Analysts predicted a wave of panic selling, especially among millennials, as investors fled the sinking ship. But to everyone’s surprise, spot Bitcoin ETFs defied expectations.

Was surprised to check in on the bitcoin ETFs and see they actually had net positive flows for 1D, 1W and 1M. Was expecting worse given btc price fell $10k. During that stretch YTD net flow held steady at +14.6b. Good sign that number held strong during a ‘step back’ phase. pic.twitter.com/0YnRbD9W8g

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) July 2, 2024

“I was expecting worse given the price fall,” admitted Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg ETF analyst, in a recent interview. Data showed that despite the price drop, spot Bitcoin ETFs continued to see positive inflows throughout June.

Even more remarkably, the year-to-date net flow for these ETFs held steady at almost $15 billion. This suggests a newfound maturity in the Bitcoin market, where investors are increasingly comfortable riding out price fluctuations and adopting a long-term perspective.

As of today, the market cap of cryptocurrencies stood at $2.2 trillion. Chart: TradingView.com

Boomers Embrace Crypto

Another unexpected twist in this story is the behavior of a demographic long considered risk-averse – baby boomers. Traditionally, this generation has been wary of new asset classes, preferring the stability of stocks and bonds.

Nevertheless, the positive flow into Bitcoin ETFs points towards a potential shift in their investment strategy. Balchunas believes these new entrants to the crypto space are proving to be surprisingly resilient HODLers (a crypto term for holding onto an asset long-term).

The recent resilience of spot Bitcoin ETFs paints an optimistic picture for the future of the cryptocurrency market. It suggests that investors are becoming more comfortable with the inherent volatility of Bitcoin and are adopting a long-term outlook.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView