Bitcoin whales, defined as addresses or clusters of addresses holding between 100 and 10,000 $BTC, have reportedly accumulated a whopping $2.36 billion worth of the flagship cryptocurrency after its price started dropping, data shows.

According to cryptocurrency analytics firm Santiment, bitcoin whales accumulated about 40,000 BTC when bitcoin’s price dropped to a $56,000 low last week. Considering bitcoin is now trading at around $59,000 per coin, whales have accumulated well over $2.3 billion of the cryptocurrency.

According to Santiment, whales took advantage of a price drip driven by bearish sentiment to keep on accumulating more BTC. As Daily Hodl reports, the cryptocurrency analytics firm has revealed in a recent report that BTC’s supply keeps moving off of exchanges, which is seen as a positive sign for the market.

Investors moving their BTC off of trading platforms implies they are looking to custody their own funds and aren’t looking to sell in the short term. This reduces selling pressure on the market and lowers the risk of a continued sell-off.

Santiment has also added that social sentiment for the flagship cryptocurrency is at its most bearish level in seven weeks. The firm’s weighed social sentiment tracker analyzes commentary on specific cryptocurrencies to determine whether investors are bearish or bullish. Per the firm, prices tend to top when sentiment is too high, and bottom out when it gets too bearish. It wrote that “the FUD [Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt] is a good sign of capitulation.”

Looking at funding rates on Binance, Santiment noted that when BTC was trading above $60,000 these were in positive territory, which is “indicative of trader over-confidence.” Often, it added, prices overcorrect when this happens. Now, the firm wrote, “things look far more neutral.”

As CryptoGlobe reported, bitcoin’s third-largest whale address has added a total of 6,665 BTC to its stash over the last 11 days when the price of the flagship cryptocurrency started dropping. Blockchain data shows the whale currently has 113,863.56 BTC in its wallet.

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