Bitcoin Holds at $83,000... Will Whales' $14 Billion Unrealized Gains Become a Variable?

▲ Bitcoin Whale ©CoinReaders

As the virtual asset market remains stagnant around $2.86 trillion for the third consecutive day, major coins such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP (Ripple), and Solana (SOL) show weakness, while a rotational trading pattern has emerged, with funds moving to some altcoins. Bitcoin is testing support at $83,000-$84,000, but whales' unrealized gains and increased exchange inflows are raising the risk of further corrections.

According to investment media FXStreet on September 30 (local time), the total market capitalization of virtual assets maintained around $2.86 trillion for three consecutive days. Despite the strong dollar and rising global bond yields, the overall market did not experience a sharp decline. However, investors appear to be waiting for bottom signals from traditional financial markets or more attractive entry prices rather than actively buying at current price levels. Large virtual assets are subject to a wait-and-see sentiment and risk-aversion pressure due to their high correlation with traditional markets.

Over the past 24 hours, profit-taking movements were prominent in highly liquid coins. Hedera (HBAR) fell 12.1%, Algorand (ALGO) 7%, and IOTA 6.5%, while SushiSwap (SUSHI) rose 5.1%, Near Protocol (NEAR) 5%, and Aave (AAVE) 3.8%. Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, XRP, and Solana all fell by approximately 1%. In a situation where the overall market direction is not clear, a rotational flow of funds has appeared, centered on some altcoins rather than major coins.

Bitcoin primarily traded between $83,000 and $84,000 over the past 24 hours until Wednesday morning, with intraday volatility narrowing. The current price range is a strong resistance area that hindered rises in May and early September, and also acted as a support line in late last year and from February to April 2025. FXStreet maintained an optimistic outlook on the possibility of an upward breakout from the sideways range in the coming weeks, although a prolonged tug-of-war between buyers and sellers is possible in this zone.

However, on-chain and supply/demand indicators continue to issue correction warnings. According to Glassnode, new fund inflows into spot ETFs supported Bitcoin's rise last week, but since then, profit-taking and selling pressure in the derivatives market have intensified. The proportion of so-called 'Hot Money' rose to 18.8%, and the proportion of BTC supply in profit increased from 69.3% to 74%. CryptoQuant reported that large Bitcoin holders' unrealized gains have increased to $14.09 billion, while trading volume has sharply decreased, evaluating this combination as a direct path to correction. In September, large-scale BTC movements to exchanges also significantly increased, and an analysis suggested that whale activity became active when the price exceeded $87,300, indicating that $84,000-$87,000 could become a zone of increased selling supply.

The aftermath of the Bitget hacking incident continues to be a market instability factor. After Bitget resumed withdrawals, which had been suspended due to a $387 million hot wallet hack, users withdrew approximately $463 million worth of virtual assets in the past 24 hours. This theft incident is reported to be the largest virtual asset hack of the year. Furthermore, market caution has increased as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) strengthened oversight on how investors could use virtual asset ETFs to hide investment gains from taxes. However, spot Bitcoin ETFs, including BlackRock products, are reportedly not affected by this measure.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*