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Bitcoin is still hampered by the ongoing volatility across the cryptocurrency market, keeping its price below the $70,000 level for the past few days. With BTC’s price steadily trending downwards, whale short-term holders are starting to feel the heat, as their unrealized losses sharply increase.

Unrealized Losses Climb For Bitcoin’s STH Whales

After a prolonged period of downside price performance, Bitcoin’s unrealized losses are spiking. A recent report from Darkfost, a market expert and author of the CryptoQuant platform, has linked this sharp increase in unrealized losses to whale short-term holders. On-chain data shows that the level of unrealized losses held by these new whales is rising to increasingly concerning levels, hinting at mounting stress among some of the market’s largest and most influential participants. 

As Bitcoin tries to regain its upward momentum, these high-value wallets, which are frequently more sensitive to recent price changes, are currently sitting on substantial paper losses. At present, Darkfost has highlighted that the losses of these investors who entered the market within the past six months are valued at roughly $26 billion.

Zooming in on the chart, this figure ranks among the most significant levels seen this year. The peak was recorded on February 6th, which coincided with the BTC’s price drop below the $60,000 level, expanding unrealized losses during the period to approximately $32 billion. 

Darkfost noted that whales that joined the market later in the cycle are currently suffering the consequences of the current downward trend of the Bitcoin price. Although these investors holding positions at a loss is not necessarily constructive, it can erode confidence and bolster behavioral instability. 

Such a trend has the potential to trigger emotionally driven decisions in periods of renewed market volatility. Given the mounting pressure beneath the surface, short-term whale behavior may have a significant impact on Bitcoin’s next significant move.

No Real Rally for BTC In Sight Yet

Key Bitcoin on-chain signals are revealing a conflicting signal about the current market cycle. In a post on the social media platform X, CW, a data analyst and crypto investor, the BTC On-chain Activity Strength Signal metric is showing that a real rally has not progressed in this cycle.

Short-lived increases have been triggered by speculative momentum, but there are still no underlying structural clues that usually indicate a real long-term rally. According to the expert, everything that has occurred so far, from the massive rally to an all-time high to the sharp pullback, is a preparation for an upcoming rally, which is expected to kick off soon. 

CW has compared this impending massive upward move to the powerful rally experienced in the 2017 cycle. This time, the rally could be bigger due to the fact that whale accumulation is at an all-time high, adding that the real rally that is about to begin will be enormous.

Bitcoin miner Bitdeer has defended its decision to liquidate its Bitcoin holdings, saying it shouldn’t be a concern for the broader market.

Bitdeer’s Bitcoin Holdings Have Hit Zero

On Saturday, Bitdeer shared its weekly Bitcoin update in an X post, revealing that the company sold all of its mining output for the week. In total, the firm mined 189.8 BTC during the window, but due to the sale, its net holdings hit zero.

Based in Singapore, Bitdeer is a BTC mining platform that operates facilities in the US, Norway, and Bhutan, among other countries. According to BitcoinMiningStock, the firm’s active computing power or “Hashrate” is currently the largest out of all public miners, sitting at 63.2 exhashes per second (EH/s).

While Bitdeer is an established name in the space, it appears to be undergoing a change of strategy. Earlier, the firm would choose to sit on part of or all of its weekly BTC output, but the recent selling to a zero treasury balance reflects a shift.

Bitdeer took to X on Monday to talk about its BTC liquidation. “Our decision to sell Bitcoin should not be a concern for the broader market,” said the company. Bitdeer noted that it’s currently evaluating land acquisition opportunities and believes it to be prudent to prepare liquidity now.

The BTC miner has been expanding into AI infrastructure recently with its “Bitdeer AI” venture, so it’s possible that the land acquisition is linked to the firm’s datacenter push.

Bitdeer isn’t the only mining company that has been expanding into AI. Cango, the fifth largest miner in terms of operating Hashrate, announced a 4,451 BTC sale earlier in February as it looked to pivot into the AI compute business. Similarly, Bitfarms, the tenth largest BTC mining firm, also revealed a strategy shift in November, noting that a high-performance computing (HPC) business pivot could make the company more profitable than Bitcoin mining ever was.

Bitfarms plans to wind down its mining facilities over the course of 2026 and 2027, while Cango has so far remained committed to its mining business. Bitdeer also doesn’t appear to be backing off from BTC mining, as it said, “Our hash rate will continue to grow, and we will continue to mine more Bitcoin for the interest of our shareholders.”

BTC Plunges To Low $64,000 Levels Before Bouncing Back

Bitcoin has kicked off the new week with some volatility as its price first fell to around $64,300 for the first time since February 5th, before rebounding back up to the $66,100 mark.

The chart below showcases the latest price action in the cryptocurrency.