After The 25% Crash: ETFs Cash Out, Whales Stand Aside – Bitcoin’s Reputation On The Line

How can something that loses a quarter of its value in six weeks still be sold as a serious investment?

That is the question hanging over Bitcoin as it trades around US$96,000 this morning, down from a record above US$126,000 in October.

More than US$1 trillion has evaporated from crypto market value, and on many screens 96 of the 100 biggest coins have spent the week in the red.

This is not a flash crash but a controlled retreat. Long-term holders are estimated to have sold roughly 815,000 BTC, about US$77 billion at current prices.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, once touted as a bridge to respectability, have flipped into heavy net redemptions.

Around US$870 million flowed out in a single day and roughly US$3.1 billion over the past month, part of some US$2.6 billion in wider crypto ETP outflows.

A US$3.95 billion BTC options expiry and US$730 million in ETH options added short-term pressure.

The macro backdrop has turned hostile. Hopes of rapid interest-rate cuts are fading, 10-year U.S. Treasury yields are back above 4%, and gold and silver are quietly up 4–9% this month.

Cautious money is drifting toward assets that pay predictable income or have centuries-old track records, not instruments that can swing 10% while you sleep.

After The 25% Crash: ETFs Cash Out, Whales Stand Aside: Bitcoin’s Reputation On The Line

Behind the scenes, the absence of a dramatic “whale rescue” is telling.

On-chain data and ETF flows show that large holders have been net sellers, shifting toward safer, interest-bearing assets instead of burning capital to defend Bitcoin’s image.

These players have no mandate to protect reputations; their job is to preserve capital. For many, letting prices fall shakes out leveraged speculators and creates the option to rebuild positions later at a discount.

Beyond Bitcoin, Ethereum has slipped below key support near US$3,200, Solana has broken under US$150 even as its spot ETFs still show total inflows of roughly US$350–370 million and about US$12 million just yesterday, and XRP has dropped 8–9% after a brief burst above US$2.50.

Litecoin is a rare winner, up 5–10% on renewed “digital silver” interest, growing use of its privacy tools and a new ETF.

Smaller names such as SOON, ALCH, STRK and UAI are posting double-digit gains on AI narratives, airdrops and trading contests, while FIL, SUI, ADA, LINK, DOGE and B2 quietly bleed.

Technically, Bitcoin now sits 4–6% below its 200-day moving average near US$100,700—a break last seen in the March–April 2025 correction—and is resting on the upper edge of the weekly Ichimoku cloud around the mid-US$90,000s.

Weekly momentum has turned negative, daily indicators are firmly bearish, and only the four-hour chart hints at a short-term bounce from oversold levels.

If this zone fails on a weekly close, the charts signal the risk of a long, grinding downturn.

For us, the message is uncomfortable but simple: disciplined capital is not there to rescue Bitcoin’s reputation.

In this market, small investors are just the ball in a game played by the very rich; if they choose to cash out and let Bitcoin fall 50%, they can, and then rebuild their billions in the next cycle.

Think very carefully before you put one more dollar into that dynamic, or treat this asset as anything more than an expensive casino chip.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error