Crypto Whales Accumulate as Retail Pulls Back

In brief

Ethereum’s staking ratio hit 30%, with Bitmine Immersion staking an additional $279M in ETH on Monday.
Chainlink’s top 100 whales have added 16.1M LINK since November as the price consolidated near $13.
Data show whale dominance in Bitcoin and ETH spot markets, while retail leads futures trading.

Major cryptocurrency holders are increasing their positions in Ethereum, Chainlink, and Bitcoin, according to on-chain data, in a sign of strategic accumulation that contrasts with recent retail-driven selling pressure.

Ethereum’s staking ratio reached a new milestone of 30% on Monday, locking over $120 billion worth of ETH on the network, according to Token Terminal. The all-time high indicates growing institutional confidence in the network’s value proposition.

On Tuesday, crypto mining firm Bitmine Immersion staked an additional 86,848 ETH, worth $279.4 million, bringing its total staked to 1.77 million ETH valued at $5.65 billion, according to Arkham Intelligence.

A separate, newly created wallet also withdrew $10 million in Ethereum from an exchange, further signaling high-conviction accumulation for the largest altcoin.

“Institutions primarily lock funds to reduce available liquidity on exchanges, effectively altering the supply-demand balance, which can amplify the market impact of any subsequent demand,” Jimmy Xue, Co-Founder and COO of quantitative yield protocol Axis, told Decrypt.

Acquiring a significant stake also allows these entities to participate in network governance, securing influence over future protocol upgrades, Xue added.

Altcoin accumulation

The accumulation trend extends to other altcoins as well.

The top 100 Chainlink whales have accumulated 16.1 million LINK since mid-November 2025, a period during which the asset’s price has hovered around $13.

“As retail sells off due to impatience & FUD, it’s common to see smart money gather up more LINK to prepare for (or cause) the next pump,” market intelligence platform Santiment noted in a Tuesday tweet.

🔗📈 The top 100 Chainlink whales have resumed their accumulation as the asset has dipped back down below $13. As retail sells off due to impatience & FUD, it’s common to see smart money gather up more $LINK to prepare for (or cause) the next pump. pic.twitter.com/AeOaj6H3xE
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 19, 2026

This divergence is reflected in trading data.

Spot market average order sizes have been dominated by whale activity since mid-December, while retail traders maintain dominance in the futures market, according to on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant.

Xue noted that such a divergence often signals a transfer of assets from short-term traders to long-term holders, which can indicate a floor in selling pressure. “However, this pattern is not a guaranteed predictor of a trend reversal, as it can also reflect inventory management by market makers,” he added.

Institutional Bitcoin demand

Bitcoin is also noting a significant uptick in institutional demand, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju tweeted on Tuesday.

“577,000 Bitcoin, worth $53B, added over the past year, and still flowing in,” he added, referencing growth in U.S. custody wallets typically holding between 100 and 1,000 BTC each.

Despite this underlying accumulation, prices have faced headwinds due to Monday’s sell-off. Ethereum is down 3.3% over 24 hours, trading just below $3,100, according to CoinGecko data.

Prediction market users on Myriad, owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, now assign a 55% chance to Ethereum dropping to $2,500 rather than rallying to $4,000, having flipped bearish on Tuesday.