BTC Whales Dump Leveraged Long Positions: What’s Brewing in the Crypto Depths?
Bitcoin's biggest players are quietly exiting their high-stakes bets. Exchange data reveals a significant migration away from leveraged long positions—a move that sends ripples through the entire digital asset ecosystem.
The Great Unwind
Forget subtle shifts; this is a strategic retreat. Whales aren't just trimming sails—they're abandoning ship on the leveraged trade. The data doesn't show panic, but rather a calculated reduction in risk exposure. These market movers are locking in gains or repositioning for the next wave, leaving retail traders to wonder what they see on the horizon.
Leverage: A Double-Edged Satoshi
Leverage amplifies everything—profits on the way up, carnage on the way down. Whales stepping back from these positions signals a potential cooling of overheated bullish sentiment. It's the crypto equivalent of the smart money taking some chips off the table while the party still rages. Sometimes the most bullish move is to de-risk and wait—a concept traditional finance still struggles to grasp between quarterly earnings calls.
What's Next for the Market?
This whale movement creates a fascinating tension. Reduced leverage could mean healthier, more sustainable price action ahead—or it could foreshadow a period of consolidation. One thing's certain: when the deep-pocketed players change their stance, everyone else should pay attention. The market's about to show whether this is a pause for breath or a prelude to a new direction. After all, in crypto, the 'smart money' is often just the money that survived the last cycle.
Analysts believe Bitcoin will rally to $135k soon
⚠️WHALES ARE EXITING BTC LONG POSITIONS!
Large BTC holders are closing leveraged longs, a move that has historically preceded BULLISH breakouts.
If this repeats, analysts see a path toward $135K BTC. pic.twitter.com/XKJF3p1t3H
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) January 11, 2026
Coin Bureau, a cryptocurrency education platform, wrote on X that analysts expect Bitcoin’s imminent rally to reach $135k. MartyParty, a crypto commentator with over 200k followers on X, wrote that a similar move occurred in 2025, driving bitcoin from $74k to $112k in 43 days.
The analyst also predicted that a Wyckoff Spring will follow shortly. A Wyckoff Spring is a bullish trading pattern where the price briefly dips below a support level before quickly returning to the trading range. The pattern often signals that an upward move is likely to follow.
The bullish prediction aligns with data from CryptoQuant, which suggests that the Bitcoin-to-stablecoin ratio on the Binance exchange signaled potential rising buying power. The data also referenced a similar occurrence in March 2025, where BTC declined from $109,000 to $74,000 before launching a new rally that ultimately pushed Bitcoin to a fresh all-time high around $126,000.
More analysts and entities have predicted that Bitcoin is on the verge of a rally. A recent report highlighted that Michael Schumacher, Wells Fargo’s Head of Macro Strategy, stated in an interview that the financial markets are experiencing declining volatility. The macro expert added that declining volatility is driving investor confidence towards riskier assets, such as cryptocurrencies.
A more comprehensive report compiled by Cryptopolitan revealed that renewed risk appetite could be making a comeback in the digital asset ecosystem. According to the report, large-cap crypto assets, such as Sui, XRP, and Solana, have performed significantly well, casting a shadow on BTC’s overall performance since the start of the year. Data from CoinMarketCap shows that BTC is up 3.6% since January 1 and is currently trading at $90,596 at the time of this publication.
The report also highlighted that the volume of spot, futures, and derivatives markets indicates that investors are gradually positioning themselves with a risk-on conviction. The aggregate futures open positions in BTC also showed signs of a recovery after the massive deleveraging seen in the last quarter of 2025.
Mercado Bitcoin exchange predicts BTC will double its market cap this year
Mercado Bitcoin, a Brazilian exchange based in São Paulo, predicts BTC will double its market capitalization in 2026. The exchange published a report outlining central projections in the cryptocurrency market.
The Latin American exchange estimates that Bitcoin’s attributes, compared to gold, place the crypto asset at the forefront as a top alternative for institutions and organizations to store value.
The report highlighted that gold investors face significant hurdles, such as logistics and storage challenges, and emphasized that Bitcoin’s digital, borderless, and self-custodial nature makes it more appealing.
The report also noted that institutional influx in the crypto ecosystem will continue to increase following regulatory reforms in the U.S. that now allow registered companies to explore digital currency investment.
Cryptopolitan recently reported that James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, predicted that BTC will land between $120,000 and $170,000 this year. The report also illuminated Carol Alexander’s prediction that Bitcoin’s price will bounce between $75,000 and $150,000 in 2026, settling “around $110,000.” Alexander is a professor of finance at the University of Sussex.
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