Why did the major whales remain inactive during last night's crypto plunge?

Bitcoin price drops below $92,000, and amid intense market volatility, on-chain whales are writing entirely different stories with positions worth hundreds of millions of dollars, revealing that market divergence has reached an extreme.

The cryptocurrency market experienced a significant decline last night, with Bitcoin’s price briefly falling below $92,000. Against this backdrop, several popular whales closely monitored by the market on the on-chain data platform Coinbob demonstrated very different trading strategies.

On one hand, major long positions held by “BTC OG Insider Whales” remain steadfast, showing resilience. On the other hand, short players like “Shanzhai Air Force Leader” began to significantly close positions to take profits.

1. Market Volatility and Whale Ecosystem

● Recently, the crypto market has been highly volatile. Bitcoin’s price retreated from recent highs, briefly breaking below the key psychological level of $92,000, impacting overall market sentiment.

● Market analysis data shows that new whale holders (UTXO holding time less than 155 days) are under significant pressure. This group’s realized market cap share has increased, but their average cost basis is around $98,000. Currently, the overall unrealized loss is about $6 billion, making $85,000 a noteworthy risk point.

● In this market environment, tracking whale movements via on-chain address monitoring tools has become an important reference for many investors to gauge market sentiment and potential directions. Large-scale position adjustments by whales often provide deeper market signals than price fluctuations.

2. Long-term Whales Holding the Line

Amid market turbulence, some major longs show remarkable resilience. The address known as “BTC OG Insider Whale” is a typical example.

● This whale’s total holdings are about $874 million. Although unrealized gains have narrowed from the high point to $8.1 million, no rebalancing has been made. Its core holdings are ETH long positions worth about $713 million, with an average price of $3161, and currently still have $5.5 million in unrealized gains.

● Besides ETH, this address also holds long positions in BTC and SOL. On Hyperliquid, it is the largest long holder of both ETH and SOL. This “unchanged in the face of change” stance indicates continued confidence in the future market.

Another notable long position, “CZ Opponent,” faces a more complex situation.

● This account has an overall unrealized loss of $12 million, mainly from XRP longs, with a position size of $75.6 million and an unrealized loss of $13.3 million.

● Nevertheless, its ETH long position still maintains $1.4 million in unrealized gains. The total position size is about $264 million. Notably, it remains the largest XRP long on Hyperliquid and the second-largest ETH long, demonstrating a commitment to holding longs despite losses.

3. Aggressive Shorts and Hedging Washouts

● In stark contrast to the steadfast longs, a group of whales actively adjusting their positions or even turning to short positions. According to AiCoin data, during a specific period on January 20, some whales frequently rebalanced between long and short.

● One whale closed a long position of 242 BTC, incurring a loss of $1.042 million; while an address marked as “Lightning Counterattack” built complex hedge positions, simultaneously long 99.8 BTC and short 6355 ETH.

● More aggressive shorting came from whales labeled “20 Million Wave Hunter,” who shorted 8383 XMR with 5x leverage, becoming the largest on-chain XMR short address.

● Another address, “Strategy Opponent,” after closing BTC and ETH longs (total loss of $324,000), quickly shifted to short positions: opening a 5x leveraged short of 73,000 DASH, becoming the largest DASH short on-chain, and establishing a 20x leveraged short of 2078.55 BTC.

4. Profit-taking in the Short Camp

Within the short camp, some early players have begun to realize profits and partially close positions. The address known as “ZEC Largest Short” continues to close MON short positions to lock in gains.

● Its MON short position has decreased from a high level to $1.4 million, but unrealized gains still reach $560,000, with a return of 120%. The total short holdings of this address are about $166 million, maintaining the largest ETH short position on-chain.

● “Shanzhai Air Force Leader” is another successful short strategy executor. Its overall unrealized gains have expanded to $11.05 million, and during last night’s market fluctuations, it continued to close PUMP and MET short positions.

● Currently, its PUMP short position is down to $4.7 million, with total short positions around $48.1 million. Notably, this address maintains targeted short positions on the Solana ecosystem, holding 10x leverage PUMP shorts and 3x leverage MET shorts, and also holds short positions on Meme coins like PEPE.

Despite suffering a $1.74 million unrealized loss on LIT due to contrarian adding to shorts, its cumulative profit this year has reached $80 million, demonstrating the effectiveness of its short strategy.

Summary of major whale holdings:

5. Leverage Traders’ Heavy Losses and Reflection

During market volatility, high-leverage traders have endured enormous pressure. The band trader “pension-usdt.eth” is a typical example.

● After closing a profitable ETH long of $740,000 on January 16, this address quickly opened a 3x leveraged BTC long at an average price of $95,614.5. As Bitcoin’s price fell below $92,000, this position of about $91.53 million incurred a floating loss of $4.07 million.

● This whale, known for short-term swing trading, had accumulated over $21 million in profits since October, with an average holding time of only 23 hours. However, the timing of switching from ETH to BTC appears to have been off, highlighting that even experienced traders face significant risks with leverage.

● This case also reflects a structural change in the current market: with the rise of on-chain trading platforms like Hyperliquid, more professional traders are shifting from traditional exchanges to these platforms, which offer higher leverage and on-chain execution advantages, changing the trading landscape.

6. Hedging Sentiment and Alternative Allocations

Amid increasing market volatility, some funds are seeking traditional safe-haven assets. The address known as “On-chain Gold Largest Long” exemplifies this trend.

● This address holds PAXG (on-chain gold) long positions with 5x leverage, with a position size of about $702,000, currently with $40,000 in unrealized gains, a 23% return. Moreover, this trader’s strategy is more comprehensive, holding long positions in multiple on-chain stock tokens, with a total position of about $18 million.

Another address, “Heavy Gold and Metal Allocation,” has built a more systematic precious metals portfolio. Recently, it opened a 5x leveraged SILVER (silver mapping contract) long position, with a size of about $940,000.

● Combining this with its existing gold holdings, the total precious metals position is about $5.64 million, with an overall leverage of approximately 5.2x and a return of 68.15%, earning $380,000 monthly. This simultaneous long position in precious metals and US tech stocks reflects a “hedge or risk appetite regardless of market direction, profit from both” broad bullish strategy.

The massive drop in the crypto market last night acts like a prism, reflecting the very different faces of whales. From the “BTC OG Insider Whale” holding $874 million steady, to the “Shanzhai Air Force Leader” decisively closing shorts to lock in $11.05 million profit.

From “pension-usdt.eth” suffering a $4.07 million floating loss due to 3x leverage, to the “On-chain Gold Largest Long” calmly earning 23% on PAXG. In market volatility, some see risk, others see opportunity, and perhaps the true “inside story” lies in the position language written by these whales with real gold and silver.