Bitcoin (BTC) briefly climbed above $107,000 on Monday before slipping back below $105,000. As the cryptocurrency continued to struggle in posting a meaningful recovery, whale activity has notably picked up. This cohort has sent more than 19,500 BTC to Binance between October 12 and November 3. The stash is worth roughly $2 billion.
What’s perhaps even more worrying is that miners have followed suit.
BTC Whales Flood Binance
In its latest findings, CryptoQuant noted that while whale inflows to Binance had been sporadic in previous months, the recent surge is a clear behavioral shift that has added to the selling pressure weighing on Bitcoin’s price. The analysis focuses on transactions exceeding 1,000 BTC, a threshold used to track institutional or large-scale whale movements. When such inflows surpass the 90-day average by a wide margin, it points to a significant change in market patterns. This recent cluster of large transfers coincides with the market’s struggle to maintain momentum amid increased profit-taking by major holders.
However, the analytics platform observed that in the past week, whale inflows have slowed, which means that the most intense phase of selling pressure may have already been absorbed.
Beyond short-term whale movements, external factors such as continued macroeconomic pressures, cautious Fed policy signals, and ongoing regulatory uncertainty are adding another layer of resistance to BTC’s recovery. Fresh data identified a major resistance zone between $107,000 and $118,000, where long-term holders (LTHs) have been increasing exchange inflows and taking profits, which has effectively capped upward momentum. With the LTH-SOPR metric dropping to around 1.6, experts say that conviction among long-term investors appears to be fading.
Miner Activity Surges
Miner-related Bitcoin flows to Binance have also accelerated sharply in the fourth quarter. Data shows that more than 71,000 BTC, worth over $7 billion at an average price of around $104,000, has been transferred to Binance since the start of November. This uptick is one of the strongest periods of miner exchange activity this year. October had already seen massive miner transfers of more than 200,000 BTC, a level that aligns with the seasonal pattern of financial rebalancing typically observed before year-end.
Miners appear to be changing their holding and selling patterns amidst BTC’s consolidation as well as the decline in mining rewards following the latest network difficulty adjustment.
While rising exchange deposits can sometimes hint at potential selling pressure, CryptoQuant noted that these movements appear more aligned with miners securing operational liquidity, such as covering costs for energy, maintenance, and potential hardware upgrades, rather than aggressive profit-taking.
“This trend reflects a healthy balance within the mining environment, where large institutions maintain a steady flow of profits without exerting negative pressure on the market. The recent spike in Bitcoin transfers to Binance may also point to a shift toward more flexible liquidity management strategies, particularly amid rising trading volumes in futures and derivatives markets.”