Bitcoin Whale Wallets Rise 3.9% in 3 Months Despite 20% Price Drop

Highlights:

• Bitcoin whale wallets have risen significantly despite BTC’s price decline.
• Santiment reported that 753 new wallets rose to the rank of whales in the past three months.
• The new finding suggests strong confidence in Bitcoin, with a possible future price breakout.   

Analytical intelligence platform Santiment has spotted a surge in the number of Bitcoin (BTC) whale wallets. On 19 March 2026, the analytical firm reported that Bitcoin whale wallets have spiked by 3.9% since 19 December 2025. This surge means that 753 new wallet addresses expanded to the status of whales within the specified interval. 

Santiment described Bitcoin whale wallets as addresses holding at least 100 BTC tokens. It added that the spike coincided with BTC’s persistent price declines. According to the analytical intelligence platform, BTC has dropped by roughly 20.2% over the past 3 months. In its extended-period statistics, Santiment noted that Bitcoin whale wallets spiked 12% year-to-date, adding 2,148 new addresses.  

Analyzing the trend, Santiment emphasized that it indicates strong confidence in Bitcoin’s long-term value. “If you truly believe crypto is all going to $0, the continued confidence being shown by key stakeholders should at least make you reconsider,” the analytical intelligence firm stated. Despite BTC’s short-term price volatility, Santiment noted that several deep analytical findings have indicated a bullish Bitcoin outlook.  

Bitcoin's amount of whale wallets with 100 or more $BTC has increased by +753 wallets in the past 3 months (+3.9% in total). In this same time period, its market value has dropped by -20.2%.

If you truly believe crypto is all going to $0, the continued confidence being… pic.twitter.com/w2rDRrD3Jr

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) March 19, 2026

BTC Price Spikes with Increasing Number of Bitcoin Whale Wallets

At the time of press, the crypto market is up 1.3% in the past 24 hours, with a trading volume of $103.517 and a market cap of roughly $2.52 trillion. Within the same timeframe, Bitcoin is up 1.6%. Its dominance sits at 56.6%, with a trading volume of $43.7 billion and a market cap of approximately $1.4 trillion. Extended-period variables show BTC is up 0.9% 14-day-to-date and 5.1% month-to-date. However, the asset remains 16.9% down year-to-date. This shows that the asset has not recovered gains from the previous year. 

On Coincodex, BTC supply inflation is low at 0.86% with a medium volatility of 3.71%. “Fear & Greed Index” reflects “Extreme Fear” at 23, while sentiment remains bearish. Based on current market performance, Bitcoin has only outperformed 60% of the top-performing cryptocurrencies. In the past 30 days, BTC has traded profitably on 15 days. However, it is still trading below its 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA).

Interest in BTC Soars Among Institutional and ETF Investors

In a separate tweet, Santiment reported that Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are attracting significant cash inflows. According to the analytical firm, Bitcoin ETFs recorded the third and fourth-largest collective volume of all time on 18 March and 19 March, respectively. The trading volume recorded on these two days were $21.4 billion and $21.1 billion, respectively.“According to our data, the 4 highest value trading days all occurred within the past 4 weeks,” Santiment added. 

For context, Bitcoin ETFs saw their highest trading volume on March 2, valued at roughly $31.6 billion. The second-highest trading volume was recorded on February 23. It was worth approximately $23.2 billion. Santiment explained that this trend will persist even as cryptocurrencies remain extremely polarized during the war.  

Bitcoin ETF's are trading at a record pace. The past two days have seen the 3rd and 4th largest collective volume of all time across ETF's. According to our data, the 4 highest value trading days have all occurred within the past 4 weeks:

March 2nd: $31.6B trading volume… pic.twitter.com/WsXpXHJ6nf

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) March 20, 2026

Meanwhile, institutions have continued to show strong faith in Bitcoin. On 19 March, Crypto2Community reported that Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive purchased 317 BTC for $23 million at an average cost of $72,555 per token. The investment firm currently owns 13,628 BTC, valued at roughly $968.24 million. On 17 March, a CryptoQuant analyst reported that buyer activity has returned to Bitcoin after the heavy selling pressure experienced in February. “This represents an encouraging shift after a period dominated by selling pressure. That said, this trend still needs confirmation,” the analyst stated.