Bitcoin took a hard hit last week, sliding from $71,000 to the $60,000–$61,000 range after a batch of older dormant wallets dumped coins onto exchanges. The move triggered a supply shock that pushed the Inflow Coin Days Destroyed metric to a peak of 2.16 million on June 2–3. But the sell-off didn't last. Whales stepped in hard at the bottom, scooping up 11,422 BTC — worth roughly $700 million — and pulling it into cold storage over the next five days.
Dormant wallets dump, market reels
The trouble started when long-idle wallets suddenly came alive and moved massive amounts of Bitcoin to exchanges. That's the kind of on-chain behavior that traders watch closely, because it often precedes a wave of selling. And that's exactly what happened: Bitcoin dropped 15% in a matter of days. The Exchange Whale Ratio, which tracks the share of top-tier buy orders, shot up to 61.6% right at the $60,000–$61,000 bottom — meaning whales were the ones doing the heavy buying.
Whales take the other side
As retail panic-selling hit its peak, the big players loaded up. Exchange netflow turned deeply negative, a sign that coins were leaving trading platforms in bulk. Over the five days following the low, 11,422 BTC were withdrawn into cold storage. That's a clear vote of confidence from the cohort that usually sets the tone. Analyst Woominkyu said the wealth transfer from weak hands to strong hands is now complete. In plain English: the people who couldn't stomach the dip sold, and the people with deep pockets bought every last coin.
Recovery looks fragile
Bitcoin is currently trading near $61,400. That puts it below all three major moving averages — the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day — all of which are sloping downward. The bounce off $60,000 has been weak so far, even with elevated trading volume. The $60,000–$62,000 zone is the last line of defense. It held in February and it's holding now, but only barely. One more flush below $60,000 could open the door to much lower levels. For now, the whales have placed their bet. The question is whether the rest of the market will follow.
