Bitfinex Whale Activity Increases As Bitcoin Approaches $100k—Further Surge Ahead?

Following a lackluster performance in recent weeks, Bitcoin appears to be seeing a steady recovery with its price now approaching the $100,000 price mark.

Particularly, so far, BTC has managed to regain some of the losses shedded in recent weeks with its price now hovering above $98,000, marking a 2.6% increase in the past 7 days.

Alongside this price movement, new data have emerged highlighting significant activity among large holders on exchanges, suggesting a shift in market dynamics.

A CryptoQuant analyst known as Mignolet has recently shared a detailed outlook on exchange whales and their influence on the current price action in Bitcoin. Mignolet’s observations focus on leverage ratios across major trading platforms. According to his analysis, the “all exchange leverage ratio” is at an all-time high.

This measure, which captures the amount of leverage being used on exchanges, reflects heightened activity that could precede significant price moves. Interestingly, while Binance has seen its leverage ratio drop back to levels last seen during last year’s consolidation phase, Bitfinex tells a different story.

On Bitfinex, leverage ratios have surged sharply, aligning with a rise in open interest. Mignolet highlights that this activity points to a sudden increase in whale movements within the ongoing consolidation range.

While these leverage ratios alone don’t guarantee a specific price direction, the sharp uptick on Bitfinex suggests a shift in market dynamics that bears watching.

According to the CryptoQuant analyst, the question now is: What are these whales aiming for? Mignolet’s analysis stops short of providing a definitive answer, but it raises the possibility of a major price shift soon.

With Bitcoin’s price holding steady above $98,000, the actions of these large-scale traders could influence whether the market breaks higher or retreats back into a more extended consolidation phase.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has continued to inch closer to the six-digit price mark which it recently fell below in the previous week. Although the asset is still roughly an 8.7% decrease away from its all-time high (ATH) above $109,000 established in January, it has managed to see an uptick in price in the past few days.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $98,091 marking a 1.2% increase in price over the past day. According to data from IntoTheBlock, the asset appears to be seeing a formation of a “massive demand zone just below the current price.”

IntoTheBlock highlighted that should the market face further downward pressure around this area, the zone may act as strong support.

A massive demand zone has formed just below the current price

On-chain data indicates that 2.76 million addresses acquired a total of 2.1 million $BTC at an average price of 97.1k, highlighting significant buying interest at this level.

If the market faces further downward… pic.twitter.com/ANm1kkXMtE

— IntoTheBlock (@intotheblock) February 21, 2025

Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView