Bitcoin price movements as whale soaks up BTC at $90k — can price finally break higher?
Bitcoin price continues to face resistance around the $90,000 level, while a large-scale buyer has reportedly increased purchasing activity, according to statements from a cryptocurrency industry executive.
- A Bitfinex whale is reportedly buying around 450 BTC per day near $90k, roughly matching daily mining supply at current prices.
- Glassnode flags a moderate bear phase, with market mean near support and short-term holder cost basis capping BTC with dense supply above $98k–$100k.
- Derivatives show dealers short gamma below $90k and long above it, options skew front-loaded, and futures participation thin, signaling fragile structure.
Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, stated that a “Bitfinex whale” is purchasing approximately 450 Bitcoin per day at current price levels. Back said the buyer initially acquired 300 Bitcoin daily but increased to 450 per day, matching the amount of Bitcoin mined globally each day.
Bitcoin price, is a break over $90k imminent?
Data from analytics firm Santiment showed that Bitcoin “whales and sharks”—wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 Bitcoin—added 36,322 Bitcoin over a nine-day period despite weak market sentiment, according to the firm’s report.
Analytics firm Glassnode, in its latest on-chain report, characterized Bitcoin as remaining in a moderate bear phase bounded by specific price levels tied to cost-basis behavior. The firm identified a market mean as downside support and a short-term holder cost basis as upside resistance.
Glassnode stated that the recent rally partially filled an “air gap” between previously high price ranges, indicating that supply previously held by earlier buyers had been redistributed to newer market participants. The firm reported observing a wide and dense supply zone above the current threshold that has been gradually maturing into the long-term holder cohort.
According to Glassnode’s analysis, realized losses have been dominated by the three- to six-month holder cohort, with additional contributions from six- to twelve-month holders. The firm attributed this pattern to selling by investors who accumulated near recent price peaks and are now exiting as the price revisits their entry range.
On the profit side, Glassnode reported a rise in realizations from low-margin profit cohorts, consistent with breakeven sellers and short-term traders taking minimal gains rather than holding positions for further appreciation.
In derivatives markets, Glassnode noted that dealer gamma positioning has skewed lower, with market participants bidding for downside protection. This leaves dealers short gamma below a key strike price and long gamma above it, according to the firm’s analysis.
Glassnode described the derivatives market as appearing disengaged, characterizing futures participation as thin and noting that price movements have occurred without meaningful volume expansion. The firm also identified open interest adjustments without corresponding traded volume, a pattern it said is consistent with position churn rather than new leverage entering the market.
Options markets are pricing risk primarily at the front end, with short-term implied volatility reacting more than longer-dated measures, according to Glassnode.
Trading data from Bitfinex showed that margin long positions have been declining from recent peaks, then increased slightly during the recent price decline, signaling renewed buying activity on price dips in the short term. However, the broader trend over the past month remains downward, according to the data.
Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading just under the $90,000 level after a brief dip to around 88,000 during the latest risk-off episode tied to tariff headlines, with nearby resistance stacked at $90,000–93,400 and major support in the $84,000–88,000 area.
Over the next 3–6 months, a reasonable base-case is a broad, violent range rather than a clean trend: with most analysts expecting a range of $80,000–110,000 as institutions continue to accumulate on dips via ETFs while macro (rate-cut expectations, trade tensions, election‑driven policy noise) periodically forces sharp liquidations.
On the bullish side, post‑halving cycle dynamics and growing institutional liquidity make a retest of the prior $108,000 peak and a push into the low six figures plausible if global risk sentiment stabilizes and U.S. rate cuts materialize; on the bearish side, a sustained break below $80,000 would likely signal that this cycle’s blow‑off already printed and open room toward the mid‑60,000s, especially if macro tightening resumes or regulatory shocks hit spot ETFs.
