Bitcoin Whales Increased Holdings During Crypto Market Mayhem, but ETF Investors Didn't Buy the Dip

• Bitcoin wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC increased their holdings while prices slid over the past few days, while those owning less than 1 BTC were sellers, IntoTheBlock data shows.
• Bitcoin ETFs saw $168 million net outflows on Monday, led by Grayscale's GBTC, Fidelity's FBTC and 21Shares/Ark Invest's ARKB.
• ETF investors held on "much stronger" than expected with only 0.3% of the assets leaving the funds, argued one analyst.

Bitcoin (BTC) investors endured a (mostly down) rollercoaster of action as prices plummeted through the weekend to $49,000 by early Monday before modestly rebounding to around the $56,000 level in morning U.S. hours, triggering diverse reactions by holders.

Bitcoin whales, or large asset holders, seized the opportunity of lower prices to purchase, while small investors sold as the panic ensued, data by blockchain analytics firm IntoTheBlock shows.

Crypto wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC, worth roughly $56 million and $560 million at current prices, "demonstrated confidence during the recent dip, consistently increasing their holdings as prices fell," IntoTheBlock analysts said.

Meanwhile, wallets with less than 1 BTC "showed weak hands, with the most substantial decrease in holdings during yesterday's market downturn, they added.

U.S-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds booked $168 million net outflows on Monday, according to data collected by Farside Investors. Outflows were limited to Grayscale's GBTC, Fidelity's FBTC and 21Shares/Ark Invest's ARKB, while rivals showed very modest inflows or flat performance.

Read more: Ethereum ETFs Scored $49M Inflows as ETH Plunged

Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, focused on the positive, noting outflows only represented 0.3% of the total assets under management in the ETFs. Further, he said, the largest of the spot funds – BlackRock's $18 billion IBIT – had no net outflows.

"That's peanuts," Balchunas said, referring to the overall level of flows yesterday. "That said, it's one day, I could see some more outflows this week. I was thinking a couple billion would leave. So far though, looking much stronger than that."