Bitcoin Forum

 I've come across several Bitcoin news channels and groups talking about whales accumulating more bitcoin and small holders panic selling, the recent one that got me curious is a news from (Crypto Insider) a Cryptocurrency news channels on telegram that's said, in August alone about 283 or more wallets surpassed the 100 $BTC mark.

 It further stated there that in total, over the past 30 days wallets with the balance 10 to 10,000 $BTC have accumulated over 100k $BTC worth about $7.6b and that has got me curious as to why the small scale holders do panic and sale instead of holding whereas those who got more than enough are seriously accumulating more.

 My thought is that, why can't they emulate those whales in holding or accumulating more , is it that they lack the funds to accumulate more, or they don't trust Bitcoin, or they went into the market without any idea of how Bitcoin operates, what do you think could be the reason why shrimps panic sale instead of accumulating like whales?

every one has the plan they're working with and that's what generally determine when they buy or sell  Bitcoin. The big whales or huge holders are probably institutions, government or individual that are very Bouyant financially. For them, thier Bitcoin holdings serves as a reserve that stores thier wealth and so they can afford to keep holding and not sell it too soon regardless of being in profit. The small scale Bitcoin holders are mostly into trading and takes out profit at any slight opportunity but still reinvest it into Bitcoin again. They are the reason for the daily buys and sells of Bitcoin that makes it volatile. Also, Bitcoin is not just a store of value but is also a medium of exchange. People still make use of it for transactions and for making payment. A typical case is what's happening in the forum where campign managers moves Bitcoin week after week into different wallets of participant of a particular campaign. The block will record it as a sell and you might think the holders of the escrew isn't wise for not holding the Bitcoin. The purpose in that context is for payment of campaigners and that also happens in different areas and form. This is just my thought on this.

Whales understand the market more than some people who just want to make a fast profit. Big investors hire sound crypto analysts who give them all the information they need to make decisions. While those who see Bitcoin as a get-rich-quick scheme feed themselves with information from social media.

Some hodlers don't have emergency funds, so they panic sell to cover expenses even when they are not in profit. While big investors have the financial strength to accumulate as much as possible without problems.

Most of these big businesses have insiders in the government, so they are always the first to get hints about the policy direction of the government.

But not all small hodlers panic or sell their coins prematurely. Many of them have been brave enough to keep their coins regardless of FUD going around. Only the weak hands sell because of a price drop.

Simply because they don't trust in Bitcoin, they only try to earn quick profit from Bitcoin, usually they trade using high leverage, that's why small price movement can affect a lot to their portfolio.

Whales is already rich, they don't have to looking for fast profit because they already have many source of incomes. Whales treat Bitcoin and any other assets as investment, while the poor treat Bitcoin as a way to change their life.

 I agree with @Die_empty's take in the second paragraph and if you carefully check why some people go into Bitcoin investment, you'd discover that many of them do this not because they want in their portfolio, but rather, a means to make quick money and if in a situation where it hits the target they set for it, they hurriedly sell off since they know it can quickly drop just as it rose so there you have it.
 You also called them small scale holders which means they do not have a mond to watch it mature unlike the long term holders.

Everyone (investors) is not the same and doesn't have the same occupation, pocket size and financial status. I know someone who is a trader, makes more than $5k every month, also there's someone that receives about $1k as salary every month, that's to say that people have different financial status and for people that is not earning big, they tend to only invest a small amount that they can risk to lose or sell when the market is going against them. You can't blame them, some of them doesn't also have enough knowledge about Bitcoin investment.

You can not be me, and I can not be you. We are different people, with so many different things including ages, experience, knowledge, social and economical status and more. By having different backgrounds, most of us don't think the same.

In investment, newbie and experience investors have big difference as well as big and small investors. Asking small, retail investors to react similarly to whales is very tough call. Some can do it but most of them can not do it but it's natural in the market that is made by many components, from whale, institutional investors to small, retail investors, experienced and newbie investors.

If you can invest money in Bitcoin with right method, for example Dollar Cost Averaging, you will have good chance to get profit. It's the bottom line for your investment success.

I think it is because small scale holder are usually newbies and as we all know, newbies are very prone to panic. In fact, panicking newbies is the profit scheme traders. When someone loses, someone else wins.

But usually the newbies learn their lesson. I remember when I was a newbie and panic sold every so often during volatile, scary market moments.

I like to view the losses as "education fees". So if anyone panic sells, don't feel bad, just learn something out of it.

All these numbers are estimates, so it is not possible to determine the buying or selling from blockchain data, and a lot of trading takes place within centralized platforms. The best that can be said is that panic occurs when Bitcoin breaks two support or resistance level, and then we will see clear selling from retail traders.

Small scale Bitcoin holders panic and sale for two reasons one is because of lack of proper knowledge about how Bitcoin works, when they notice the value of their BTC decreasing on the Blockchain, they will naturally panic. It takes knowledge and experience of how Bitcoin works not to panic and sale when because they will think that the their BTC will soon vanish. Proper knowledge will make a hodler to understand about pump and dump that after dip price will recover and increase.

Another reason why small scale Bitcoin holders will panic to sale is because of lack of money, somebody who depends on the profits of Bitcoin investment to survive will naturally panic and sale when it begins to dip. Unlike the whales who are very rich and are not bothered about dip because they are holding for long term until they are prepared to offload their bags. Lack of money can make people to take rational decisions to sale and survive, not that they don't know that it's better to keep holding their Bitcoin for long term.

I never said whales are investing in Bitcoin to make fast returns. My explanation is that these big investors are not like inexperienced small investors whose main aim for investing is to make quick profit. Whales are rich investors that have long-term investment goals because they can afford it.

You are right. Some process collection and analysis of data for these assumptions are not reliable. Most of these estimations come from observations and the process could be faulty.

It’s part of human psychology I guess, people panic when they think they are making losses. It will never stop & it’s not only Bitcoin, weak hands exist in all areas of investing. Short term price movements are just noose, hold your bags & don’t get shaken out. The price will rise in Q4, do not worry.

They can emulate what does whales  do because they don't have money to spend. Those amount they currently spend for bitcoin investment is what they have that's the reason why they get panic when there's dumping condition happen since they can't afford to see the value of their accumulated bitcoin is decreasing and what these people usually think that doing cut loss is always the best decision they could do. This also shows lack of experience since if they have long exposure with bitcoin and now this scene which price dumping of bitcoin happen for sure they will never get panic an let those events happen since they know that bitcoin will recover.

There must be more than just one reason. But I'm sure there are many who sold not because of anything else but purely due to panic. The market can't shake them off for good. There will always be sheep and weak hands in the community who don't care whether they're losing for as long as they can escape what worse things might come next.

Aside from weak hands and panic-stricken sellers, there might also be others who are simply risk averse and who prefer to avoid risking further. We can understand them because they might not have much unlike those rich whales who can afford to absorb big losses.

They can not emulate those whales but they can still hold their Bitcoin and not panic with anything happen to the market. But many small scale holders can not hold their emotion when they see the market bleeding and they think that Bitcoin will going to do down furthermore. They are not think that Bitcoin will be rise up and start increase but that triggers them to sell their Bitcoin and thinks that they can buy back again in a lower price. Maybe they can do that but that will not guarantee them to gets the lower price since they don't know when the price will stop to go down and start increase.

They need to hold their feeling in the bloody market so they can still search for a chance to buy back Bitcoin without selling their Bitcoin. The down of the price will be their time to buy more Bitcoin so they must not be late to do that if they want to accumulate more Bitcoin.

The simplest reason is definitely a lack of knowledge. Small Bitcoin holders can be people who are new to Bitcoin and starting their investment. without a good understanding of the market, of course, seeing the value of their assets drop in large numbers creates panic. the worry is that the value will not be able to return.
Another reason is the need that forces investors to sell some of the Bitcoin they own even though the value is falling. we never know the difficult times that each person is going through.

Actually, novice investors must know that long-term Bitcoin investment will be more profitable. but for those who are less experienced, panic is natural in investing. you can plan your investment well, but when you are inexperienced, everything can mess up your plans.

Lack of proper knowledge and experience on which this is the main reason on why they do really panic out on the time or moment that the market price would really be that going down. This is why it is really that important for you to have that awareness and experience at least for you to have that kind of sustain on the time that you would really be dealing up with this crypto space. You would definitely make yourself having that kind of panic selling on the time that you dont know on what you would gonna do and this is why its really that important that self awareness on what are the things you are doing is the key for you to have that kind of good handling towards self because once you do missed out on doing so then you would really be that impulsive on the things on what you should gonna do.

This is why its really that important that you should really be wary on the actions that you are taking. It would be always recommended that you should really be assessing out different market conditions
and since you are already wary on the possible actions that you would be taking then the best approach is to make yourself act according into your own knowledge.

That's exactly what I was thinking. It's just that some people are like that and that's all there is to it. They buy at highs and sell at a loss when it goes down because they get scared. Some can learn and change with time but there are people who get carried away by their emotions like that and there is no need to give it another thought.

Because they are "weak hands", if they weren't weak they would have been capable of accumulating more bitcoin instead of keep losing money with their bad/weak decisions. Such people rarely investigate what they are investing into, they just read something on the internet (like someone got rich of bitcoin) and they jump on board thinking if they buy a little bit of bitcoin they can too become super rich. But since they don't even know what bitcoin is, they panic sell as soon as there is a small drop. Specially if that drop is accompanied by a lot of FUD.

They have weak hands mainly because they lack of knowledge and experience. Knowledge can be improved easily by learning and experience needs time of living in this market.

About knowledge, I can help them if they're ready for learning.

• Bitcoin price history, ATHs and bottoms. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5488293.0)
• Bitcoin bull market drawdowns are helpful and very relevant to current period too.
  
  • https://studio.glassnode.com/workbench/bf532ce2-a66b-4798-6deb-bf3ba7decc59
  • https://cryptoquant.com/community/dashboard/650de954ca432c72d6ef82b1. Create an free account on Crypto Quant and get access to this dashboard.
  • https://charts.bitbo.io/price-drawdown-from-all-time-high/

I have to agree with the last statement mate we are quick to actually label every panic seller as someone without knowledge or experience but most at times it is not as we use to think, some investors might even be selling at profits at this period when we think they might be selling at loss because we don’t know for sure when they started holding, others can be short term traders. While the majority of investors this panic sellers are doing so to actually answer to emergency demands, yes many will say they need to keep emergency funds but there also emergency needs that the emergency funds can cover for and In order to not borrow they will decide to liquidate their holdings.

Let’s take a look at the recession crisis and how people panicked to sell during the hearing of this, there are many countries currently experiencing economic difficulties and I think their first to go to is liquidating their positions on volatile assets, so it’s not all about knowledge but rather weak hands can be the sole reason for this

Most of the time the panic sellers are newbies as stated in your post, TBH in my view this happens due to lack of experience and nu-controlled emotions. It's not like they don't trust Bitcoin actually they do but they are not familiar with the market manipulations, so they get emotionally trapped into situations where they are mentally forced to sell in panic and the rest of the emotional damage is done by YouTube influence's, they totally misguide their community members.

For the "purity of the experiment", we need to ask the shrimps about this, why they do it this way. :) Maybe there are shrimps among the forum participants, huh?

I believe that the following factor is important: whales have a different psychology of behavior (this is what allowed them to become whales), accordingly, they act differently than shrimps. Also, whales have more resources, which allows them to "stay afloat" longer, unlike shrimps, who can invest almost all their money in bitcoin (for example, for a short period of time) and they are forced to sell at an unfavorable price. But I suppose that the most important factor is banal panic and the inability to "feel" the cryptomarket.

In general, I have no idea why certain investors act this way. :)

Whales know the market very well because they are the ones who manipulate the market, and they trust Bitcoin a lot, so you will find them collecting more and more with every decline. Collecting these large amounts is evidence of the great confidence that Bitcoin has gained in the market.

As for the small holders, or as you call them "shrimp", they do not have enough experience in the market on the one hand, and on the other hand, they do not have enough liquidity to collect more Bitcoin when it declines. Also, some of them may prefer to speculate and get some profits instead of waiting for a long time.

Basically this. To be a strong hand you need to check a few boxes. You have to know what bitcoin is, be ready to hold at a loss, be wealthy enough so that you don't need to touch your investment for a few years, know how to filter the news.

Weak hands are basically people who are on the other side of the spectrum. They're poor, need money, invest in bitcoin in hope of a fast gain, are degenerate gamblers who trade on high leverage, and so on.

It is obvious they do not know what they are doing, after all not having money to invest in bitcoin is not really an excuse, as if that was the case, they could keep holding the coins they already have without having to sell them, at least to me those panic sellers had a completely mistaken idea of what they were going to face in this market, it seems they believed they could remain invested in bitcoin for a short amount of time and become rich, an unlikely occurrence, especially if we take into account the small amount of money they invested in it.

That's because their economic pressure is not the same as large holders whose needs can still be met from other pockets. While small holders like me feel a situation where there is a sense of panic because the money we save in the form of bitcoin is almost 90% of the total assets, if we don't sell it immediately then we can't meet our daily needs. Yes the point is our finances are unstable but we still have hope to be able to take part as small bitcoin holders. Of course we will always lose to them (whales) but we learn from past mistakes to start holding bitcoin again with a different situation. :)

There can be multiple reasons behind that. The basic reason why most people that you are referring to as shrimps panic sell is because they can't afford to lose the money they have invested, so they are afraid that the market might fall hard on their face and they might lose all the money they have invested. So as soon as they see the market going down, they sell immediately.

On the other hand, whales, who are wealthy, don't care about small drops because they know they can afford to lose the money they have invested so they are completely okay with taking the risk and buying more or holding what they have got.

The second reason why some people sell and some hold has to do with the level of their knowledge and their understanding of the market. If you are new, know nothing about Bitcoin and its history, you wouldn't be confident if you see it losing value when you have money invested in it.

The honest truth is that the both players, that is the whales who we knew as the Big accumulators and those who sell at every now and then are very important as to what is keeping and making the market interesting reason being that everyone can not can not come to the market with same, purpose, aims and objectives. But however, we can't generalized that it is only the whales that are more interested or buying and holding, there are still small scales accumulators that understands and have the same value placed at Bitcoin in terms of accumulating more and holding for as long as possible they can.

Usually whales always benefitted from Bitcoin. Because they know very well how Bitcoin would react. Even during the dump, instead of selling whales, accumulate more Bitcoins. Most of the time, small holders dump Bitcoin. Especially when they see any negative news, they become panicky and lose patience. As a result, Bitcoin started dumping and whales started accumulating slowly. Small holders just lose hope, that's why they become panicky. And panic sellers won't make money from Bitcoin. 

In an open market, people with different things in mind comes to the market to buy Bitcoin and use it for whatever they have in mind to with their Bitcoin, you don't expect everyone to do the same thing. Bitcoin isn't mean to be hold you know, people use it to buy and sell goods, some people use it as collateral when they want to lend and many more, you should expect Bitcoin to have different adoption which is why you see chain analyst gives this report.

Sometimes, this speculations are done to give traders an egde about what is happening on the accumulation level. Imagine you having a short position because you think the price will go down and you refused to look at this key metrics, you will just wake up.and up and see that your entire balance has been liquidated. Beside, chain analyst are best known in doing those jobs just to give update about what's happening in the network.

Weak hands sell BTC whenever the price falls or is falling and they rush to buy when the price starts to rise, they are always caught in the 'fomo cycle', that is what weak hands do and nothing is going to change about that. People get scared and worried when they see the price of their investment dropping, but if some of these weak hands had done enough research on BTC, they may not have panic sold their coins, because a drop in BTC price is only temporary and a chance to buy more coins.

I solely agree with you on this. Many newbies do panic when it comes to taking decisions like this because they are not emotionally matured yet to take decisions like that. Bitcoin is not a rocket science yet many still find it difficult to believe the real potentials of Bitcoin and how it can be fully explored to your benefit.

Once you can control your emotions and gain over the market manipulations, you can achieve a whole lots of things in the crypto space. Many people who panic on many occasions are attached to the fear of uncertainty due to lack of enough knowledge about what needs to be done, when and how to make the right decisions.

First, I believe regardless if they are small or big scale holders, the most reason they ended up panic selling because they lack the information about the coins they're hodling or they fail to understand the high volatility of bitcoin. Also, small scale holders only have low budget for their investment and don't even have the extra funds needed if necessary, so if the price gets dump drastically, it's no surprising that they end up panic selling in order not to lose too much, simply because they can't afford to lose their small investment.

Unlike big whales, they always have extra funds to buy back again if ever, so panic selling would be the last thing they'll do.

Whales acquiring large amounts of bitcoin don't always make small holders sell; rather, that can motivate them to buy and hold more.

The only time I see small holders panic sell is if a large amount of bitcoin is being moved to an exchange account, which means that the depositor is about to dump that amount in the market, which could cause a drastic negative change in the market, which those who can't hold for long will have to make a move to sell off before the market starts dropping.

Exposure is important, it's not like rocket science as you agree with that and exposure doesn't mean that before making any investment if you are new you need to learn about this strategy and memorize that book and this philosophy, there's something we call human instinct just get information about where are you investing what are risks and rewards, also never go for all in even if you are new because if you fail in your fist attempt while all in there's no chance of survival and then you'll be from those people who use to say its a scam, Bitcoin is Ponzi and Bitcoiners are gamblers blah blah.

It's natural for a person who earned money through hard work while making any kind of investment with those funds he'll be super duper conscious and make a per-search before doing that, for the gamblers who earned easy money will fall into any kind of stupidity. That's a fact to go up you need to take steps, a straight 90 degree journey is not realistic.

A whole bunch of little investors get too wrapped up in their feelings about their investments.  They make moves without thinking them through or considering the consequences.  Getting all emotional with investing is no good.  When you are dealing with something as volatile as crypto, its easy to get caught on that emotional rollercoaster.  Fear and greed start calling the shots and leading to choices you will probably regret.

The way to go for the little guys is to keep your cool no matter what, and put together a long-term approach to investing so you got a plan to stick to. So you dont do dumb things in the heat of the moment.

In my opinion many small investors lack experience and lack understanding of the markets: probably they simply read some article that was explaining how bitcoin went up XXXXX% in the last X years and what they understand is that it'll going up no matter what. Then they decide to buy, bitcoin goes down, and they think they got in too late and the ship is sinking so better sell everything at loss at that point.

Shrimps don't have the wealth and resources to race with the whale. Wealth means you need cash, information are the resources. Information costs money, it's not free.

There are a handful possible reasons for this.

1. They're weak and emotional.
2. They're newbies and have yet to thoroughly understand that it has always been the Bitcoin way.
3. They're not truly convinced of the technology nor of its potential and future.
4. They're investing more than they can afford to lose however small their investments may be.
5. They simply don't have the appetite for risk.
6. They have to exit and can't wait for the bullish season.

There are many reasons why people sell bitcoin when the market is dumping, such as newbies lacking knowledge and experience in the market, speculators, people in financial difficulty or people investing with borrowed money...These are common mistakes made by small investors. Meanwhile, funds and organizations have long-term investment strategies and large capital resources, helping them be more proactive in the game than retail investors.

But that doesn't mean funds and institutions will always be the winners in the market. If you take the time to research, you will see that the 2022 bear season also caused a series of bankruptcies of hedge funds like Alameda Research or Three Arrows Capital (3AC). They are also reputable venture capital funds in the market, each owning and managing more than 10 billion USD. The market is much tougher than we think.

Its because they're not used to how quickly the market moves in cryptocurrency. Unlike stock markets which have restricted hours for trading, and rules such as stock trading freezes when the price plummets more than 7% in a specified period, cryptocurrency bas no rules. Downward spirals don't stop and can be sudden and quick. Small holders are typically beginners and aren't used to different transiting conditions.

This is the reason why it is highly recommended to use money that is not used for other needs or money from loans to invest. When small investors use money they can afford to lose, the panic you mentioned in Op will never happen. Whatever happens in market conditions it will not be easy for the Pope to change his decision, patience and mental strength are needed when investing in highly volatile assets.

What the whales did should be a lesson for small investors, those who have so many assets still have the desire to accumulate their assets, they should be the first to panic when the price starts to move down, But they remain steadfast because of their great belief in the potential that Bitcoin will bring in the future. This is where the difference between whales and small investors is because of their different levels of understanding. I am not talking about how much capital is owned, but knowledge about investment will determine the direction in the future.

i dont think weak hands are selling at a loss, they are just the weak hands making minimum profit, but end up aiding the majority to have a raised bottom

things to keep in mind
when weak hands bought at $25k last year and then panic sell at $59k even though they had an opportunity to sell at $70k+ just months ago, those weak hands may have made a profit but not as much as they could make if they held on longer or sold recently... but remember this.. those weak hands had a acquisition cost of $25k.. so when selling the coin the new buyer now has a acquisition cost of $59k. this means the current holder of a specific amount of coin no longer would be willing to sell from $25k+ but would refuse to sell below $59k from now on(for that specific allotment of coin)

when bitcoin transfers to new holders it sets a new support barrier "bottom" (value) that they wont sell below and as such creates a raised value level, which along with the rising mining cost of block reward coin cost also enforces a higher minimum sell price.

as time passes and coins pass different holders, less and less people are willing and able to sell below $25k-$50k which means if for instance $55k becomes the MAJORITY minimum sell price, then the only way is up.

..
i personally still have a hoard of coin from the 2012 days of $6, meaning i can sell at any price between $7+ and profit. however i love the fact that the majority of holders are acquiring coin and setting a new raised bottom of over $50k as it means the chances of the price crashing back to $6 is negligible/near impossible unless the majority were to become idiots and sell at a loss, which would only happen if bitcoin had a huge bug/unfixable problem and majority wanted to escape

1.An investor, who is panic selling is not a true HODLer. You can call him whatever you want, just don't call him a holder or a HODLer. ;D
2.Why do investors panic sell? This question is as old as the financial markets. Maybe because the investors are people and people can be emotional, irrational, conformists, insecure, etc. The crypto whales have lots of money. They can survive a price crash or a bear market. Try surviving in a market bloodbath with your life savings(which you can't afford to lose). It's pretty normal to expect that many people, would panic sell and choose safety, instead of HODLing a volatile asset in times of market turbulence.

Not having enough in your wallet is a reason to have panic attacks some instances especially when there's high volatility in the market, the fear they could get their portfolio running into minus at high in volatility periods could be one key reason they panic sell so they could still retain some profitability amidst the volatility of the Bitcoin market but with the whales it's totally different reason been that they have got the capital strength and almost no reason to panic at all so they wouldn't have to be selling off at intervals but rather see it as an opportunity to add some more to their portfolio which can be seen as buying low to probably sell higher.

Another reason could be in the purpose for which they are hodling, some hodle for a long term investment while the others are most for short term and this is common with small investors who have their wallet balance in very smaller units, this doesn't mean they aren't hodlers, infact they are one of the reasons for the volatility we witness in the market at some point because they rush in in their numbers and rush out almost immediately too, so reason for hodling and portfolio strength against volatility could be reasons for panic sales.

Many things could cause small bitcoin owners to sell!

• Lack of trust in bitcoin
• Investing with money for house rent or other utilities
• Lack of emergency fund
• Lack of bitcoin knowledge
• Fear, uncertainty and doubt
• Lack of money

It is a natural principle that he that has in abundance will definitely risk the more. He that has a little will try to guard it and not take much risks.

Majority of people who have small quantity of bitcoin are not real holders of bitcoin, they don't understand the market and whenever the price of the market drops they begin to panic. The reason why some of this people have this low amount of Bitcoin is not because they can't afford to accumulate bitcoin but they just want have small amount of bitcoin to see if they can make profit from it quick. People who have reasonable amount of Bitcoin for hodling, it is not as if they have so much money to buy bitcoin but they understand how to accumulate bitcoin.

People who have small amount of bitcoins can't emulate the whales because it is impossible to emulate something that you don't believe in but only just trying with a little amount if it work not. It is not as if some of the whales are better financially than those who have small amount of bitcoin just that the whales don't fail to buy bitcoin every opportunity they have.

Most of these small holders are the ones who tend to panic sell since they are the most sensitive to short-term swings in price. Whales have so much more cash on hand to ride out the ups and downs of the market, which means they don't get knocked down as easily by sudden drops, making the little guys sell off in a panic, thinking they will lose it all. Glassnode, for instance, shows in their study that smaller holders normally buy higher and sell on dips, while whales accumulate during downturns and statistically look way more stable.

A lot of new investors just can't understand how Bitcoin can be long-term, how it moves in the market. They see a dip and think it's the end, wanting to cut their losses, while more experienced or wealthier investors realize it's a buying opportunity. So, it's less a matter of trust but rather knowledge and experience.

When the market drops, smaller Bitcoin holders feel nervous. Panicked sales are understandable. They dont have the same deep pockets as the big players, the whales. Those guys can weather the storm and buy more when prices drop. The little guys, not so much. It all comes down to risk tolerance and how much skin you have in the game. When a lot of your investment is in Bitcoin, every price change feels like a rollercoaster. Your emotions take over when you see red. Human nature.

Bitcoin is the future. Not getting rich soon, but being part of something big. Its about supporting a decentralized financial system that empowers people. So, to all the small-scale investors out there, I say this: dont panic. Research, understand the market, and think long-term. Though turbulent, Bitcoin is highly resilient. Its always recovered from setbacks.

Those that are panicking and selling are those that have already fixed their mind in less profits ( short-term investors) , because a long-term investors won't sell , especially in a of dip rather he or she will increase their rate of accumulating, inorder to buy the dip putting themselves in a nice position in holding bitcoin. And most of these folks that usually sell in loss always endup regretting their actions of not being patient, while those that kept holding usually endup smiling ( BTC).

While some is that they don't have a good foundational knowledge on how bitcoin works , like alot of folks don't know the real meaning of bitcoin, most of them sees bitcoin as a means to get rich quick, though bitcoin can literally make one financially stable , but it may takes time , but with consistency in their Bitcoin investing one can surely get their.

You can't blame them. Just because they've got peanuts and the whales have got much, doesn't mean that they have an invalid feelings. There are many reasons why they panic when the market is moving. I've been there and I understand their feelings.

There is a time for everything and you have to understand that. Whether they have funds or they lack of it, the maturity of ones feelings towards the market like Bitcoin will come. It doesn't mean that they don't trust Bitcoin. As I've said, there is a time that they'd feel that they'll feel trusting Bitcoin and even tons of FUDs comes to the market, they won't be moved.

It's likely not any of the reasons you pointed out. I think it's going to be majorly because shrimps assume accumulating Bitcoin is their sure way of getting rich. Therefore, their investment strategy is often short term. So, whenever the market moves an inch in favour of bull run they hastily sell off; thinking that's a point of price reversal. It's not so with whales who are mostly known for long term investments and are less distracted by what price feeds do on a regular.

You don't need to be surprised because everyone of us have different financial limit and that is why we have different level of investors and Bitcoin holders. Just like we have ordinary traders in the crypto market, we also have huge funds traders who are in the market to make profits just like small scale traders having different accounts size and when to take their profits.

You can't expect someone that has $1000 worth of Bitcoin to have the same endurance limit or investing strategy like the other that has over $100 million worth of Bitcoin in their portfolio. The rich are not even interested in selling now even though the price of Bitcoin quickly hit $100k. It is the short term investors that would be panicking sending their holdings so they can maximize the profits without knowing if the price will still increase or not. The patient rate is different depending on how much we are holding.

All of that will depend on the strategy of each investor in setting the investment targets they run and for some people who take advantage in the short term, they have certainly made a profit according to the target they have set, but for those who choose to maintain their assets in the long term and will also continue to collect their assets until they reach the profit target they set, anyone who sells their Bitcoin assets when the price is falling will of course regret it and this happens because they do not understand how Bitcoin works and this will certainly make them lose.

When someone understands that Bitcoin is a means to get rich quick, then they have misunderstood Bitcoin and it would be better for them to re-learn about Bitcoin so that they can make Bitcoin a means of storing their assets in the long term so that they can feel the benefits of holding these assets.

Lack of trust makes them feel nervous when seeing the price drop, and I say it is normal. And why are they not acting like whales? Their behavior is different because what is in their mind is worries and uncertainties, while these whales are aggressive and are willing to spend money despite high risk. Whales find the declining situation as a buying opportunity, while other people consider this a losing journey.

In their views and actions, we can say that they are different and much more with their approaches. That is why whales continue to build wealth, as they are going straight to their goal without a doubt. Believing the fact that high-risk takers earn more, which we find reasonable because whales have already proven it. 

I need to correct one thing here because I personally as a small-scale bitcoin holder don't really like saying that small-scale bitcoin holders always sell panic because in fact not all are true like that.

It is undeniable that there are still even a lot of people selling when panicking but that cannot be said to be small-scale bitcoin holders only because in the end regardless of small or large holders everything is the same where when they do not have much knowledge and experience then they will sell the bitcoin they have in a state of panic because panic is not a benchmark for whether they have small or large assets but panic occurs because they are still not sure what is being done whether it is right or wrong including in bitcoin hodl.

So in this case we cannot classify that small-scale bitcoin holders always sell when panicking and those who become large-scale bitcoin holders do not do that because I think the concept is not from how big you are in bitcoin but how sure you are and how ready you are mentally when doing long-term hodl.

I see people have pointed out most of the reasons why small scale bitcoin holders sell their bitcoins and I agree with most of what they say. I just want to add, what would happen to the market if everyone, from retail investors to whales, bought bitcoin and didn't sell? I don't think that's good for the markets and that's not how financial markets work. If that happens, the market will soon crash and bitcoin will soon become worthless. Also, if people are just buying and not selling, where are you going to get cheap bitcoins to buy?

We are on a battlefield, meaning there will be winners and losers, you cannot expect that we all win when investing in bitcoin.

There are several reasons why small Bitcoin holders panic for sale but I will talk about three major reasons.

1) Lack of adequate knowledge of Bitcoin investment: you will be surprised to know that majority of the people who claim to understand how the Bitcoin investment works only know how to buy and sell Bitcoin, they did not make accurate findings before choosing to invest because they were focused on getting profit since they think Bitcoin can make them become millionaires upon investing so when they aren't getting the desired results, they will start panicking because they want to sell and take the little profit they have made.

2) Investing with borrowed capital: Some investors after being told to invest with the amount they can afford to lose will always choose to borrow money to invest with the idea of paying back as soon as they make profit so when they get a little progress as a result of the increase in the price of Bitcoin, they will be eager to always sell.

3) Fear of losing money: This is the more reason why small scale holders panic more, they invested with the little money they have, some may not have a back up plan so they will be scared of losing money whenever they hear of dip, this case is the reason why investors are advised to always have a back up plan instead of depending totally on their investment.

Small holders are usually the ones who need quick profits to grow their portfolio size. Not everyone but many of them are like this.
So when the market dumps then the small holders get a panic attack since their portfolio keeps decreasing in $ value.
Hence they decide to sell when the market dumps. This might be a good strategy for some of them to keep a stop loss and then buy back later.
But some people lose their money by not buying it back in the dips and instead buying when the market recovers crossing their previously bought price.

Most times, the small scale Bitcoin holders are short time traders, they don’t have the ability to hold Bitcoin for long, so instead of losing it all they sell to take the little profit they have and wait for another opportunity. They mostly don’t have enough funds to invest more in Bitcoin and they cannot afford to lose what they have already invested which is why the whales are always at advantage because they have money to accumulate Bitcoin whenever they want it.
As a small scale investor who have no enough money to invest in Bitcoin should use DCA method to keep investing instead of selling when the price dip.

Another reason and the most relevant is that those are the people who do not have the money to invest in bitcoin but still do it in order to make quick profit and when they see that there are in loss they usually panic sell because they don't have the power to hold. By the way it is not only the small scale investors who sell but also the big whales do sell according to different reasons & conditions and the circumstances for both are different, the whales may sell in order to manipulate the market.

This is wrong i believe small portfolio holders are the ones who need to hold onto their Bitcoin for a long so that it will have enough value and focus more on accumulating more Bitcoin. Selling it while the size is small would not yield any good profit at all because the higher the size of your Bitcoin the higher the profit that one should be expecting.

Small scale holder should prioritize how to get some good business or a better job so that they can invest more into their portfolio. 

Lack of money and not having patience is the reason people are finding it difficult holding because they invested with the thinking that the market is going to be bullish soon for them to have the opportunity to take profits to use in other things. The small holders don't have money as whales do hence they can't hold like them because they'll have need for money and when there's no money coming from others sources, they'll have to fall back to selling to use the money to solve other problems. Not all the small investors budgeted wrongly that they have to sell to see money to use for other important things but for some, they just got into some life challenges that they didn't have enough emergency money to handle. But after selling and we got some money, it's wise to invest back into Bitcoin because of the future of Bitcoin so we can make more money.

Haha so in the end you think it is a money game, yup I can agree with that as well which is a fact to some extent but I've seen people booking loss who own a lot of money and I've seen people making a lot of money with smaller portfolios as well. let me explain it's not wise if you are a small investor to wait for a long time and wait for profits, this strategy should be adopted by newbies and those who dont have time to study the market and can't make regular analyses and adjust positions.

If you are a small portfolio investor and have enough time, to learn about price action and different strategies focus on daily market news and updates, trade, and adjust your positions with a proper strategy you'll end up being a more return-making investor compared to one who just invested and held his funds. DYOR because if you trade there are some potential risks but on a large time frame and with Bitcoin with a strategy, it's super reliable to trade because it's not a meme coin shit.

Be a smart investor rather being a dumb holder.

It all depends on everyone perspective and views because even though we say that its not right, at the end of the day we can't intervene in what other people do with their portfolios so when they sell or hold its up to them as we can't do much about it.

In addition, sometimes in this case some other considerations such as their goals are already completed because after all ,  even though for a long enough period of time it is advisable for bitcoin but when they have determined the limit of profit or the point where they will exit then it is their decision and it is appropriate for them to leave if their goals have been achieved in this case so I would not blame anyone who wants to get out of bitcoin even though I still avoid it and remain in bitcoin until now .

Whales are indeed manipulating the market. Some people exploit the promotion of their large holdings that they sold and FOMO to push small investors out of the market and leave their positions that other investors will take. For those looking for quick profits and who don’t have the capital they can afford to lose, investing in Bitcoin will undoubtedly be psychologically challenging; panic selling to make some profit or selling at a loss would be an unwise decision. Bitcoin is not price-stable; it rises and falls based on supply and demand, and many factors influence its price. So, whoever has conviction and faith in the future of Bitcoin will try hard to secure his position in the market, ignore any short-term declines, and consistently seek to increase his holdings with money that he is not in a hurry to profit from.

They only want to earn quick profit because if they didn't then they would buy bitcoin instead of selling their holdings. It is also because of lacking money that small scale bitcoin holders aren't able to accumulate more bitcoin whereas whales have every means to accumulate more and have much more understanding than the small scale holders. It could also means that they want to prevent loses and buy once it stop decreasing or let's say whales stop manipulating the market.

My only point here is if you are well aware on what you are hodling, regardless if you are a big or small scale bitcoin holder, you will never resort into panicking because we all know that will only lead into inevitable mistakes and losses, that will make you fail on achieving your end goal. And most probably, if only we only start to invest using our own spare money, we will never get panic everytime we see our investment price dropping inevitably.

That I believe is the main reason why most small holders panic - because they did not use their spare money so they have other needs for that money. With such need, they have the tendency to sell it right away and once the price is declining, they are panicking because the value is going down as well.

But if you look at those big holders, even if the price is declining, the tendency of some of them is to accumulate more. So they truly believe this market because they are just waiting for the right timing to discard their coins.

Your argument is valid and I am ready to do that with you all day. With what you have said so far you are typically saying that the investor should start trading because if he cant hod his Bitcoin for long then it is obvious that he would have to sell when it is high and buy back when the price is low. Such practices are considered trading as long as it is done in a short period even if it is not in real time. Have you ever considered the odds of the price not going down anymore after an investor sells his Bitcoin? Such events have happened so many times, and even if the price goes down later it might be after some months or weeks. Some investors will be tempted to withdraw their funds after waiting tirelessly for the price to go up, so may be pushed to quit and be satisfied with the profit they have. I still inside that small investors should never think of trading at all. My reason is that if they trade and lose it al they won't have anything in the portfolio but for a huge investor they can trade with a few coins and still have some left which they are willing to hold for a long.

Don't get me wrong I am not saying money is it all. I am saying accumulating is what is importance for those investors with small bugs instead of rushing after profits wth a short leg.

Whether it's small scale or large, people tend to panic during downswings, whether it's bitcoin or say something in the traditional stock market because of lack of education, plain and simple.  Anyone with the right amount of knowledge and know how will never panic in a down market because they are always invested in a manner where they are expecting a downfall, meaning they've either got the time to make it back up, or a downswing wont' hurt them too much because they don't have too much "in play".

The thing is that Bitcoin holdings have to come with long time of knowing when to sell and when to buy Bitcoin, because the understanding of that term make you stand out whenever the bad market happens, this is so much more that it requires a long term of experience that comes from the various events that could have taken place all through that time, this is very necessary because anything outside experience and proper knowledge, one is ban to suffer alot of negative experience such as panic sell as you said.


But one thing I know is that, only the weak hands panic whenever there is a short term Bitcoin price drop.

I also have the same view as you. The only reason why they are panic selling is because they may not see the historical facts of bitcoin, the benefits of holding bitcoin for the long term or may be they have prepared a reserve fund to invest so when the price drops they panic.

I think big and small scale investors who have enough knowledge about bitcoin and they invest with good money managers will not panic when there is a price correction. Since they believe that price volatility is a normal thing, they believe that bitcoin price will go up again. In fact, for them the volatile market makes them earn good profits by continuing to buy and buying that dip/correction is the best way to accumulate more bitcoins.

It's normal to have some panic swings whenever the market changes its coarse all of a sudden and then we'll also react on it because our money decreases its value at that moment. Nevertheless, it's true that the knowledgeable and experienced investors won't really react a lot on it. There could be some bit of emotions but then it can be handled flawlessly because they know how to do or should I say that we know what to do and how to react on it. The market swings are pretty much common and there's nothing to be worried with. The small holders tend to panic more because it could be all that they have and I don't see any problem on it nor belittle them with that because everyone was from there.

Yeah wow, this makes so much sense. You've made me realise what the "support barrier" means now. Great detailed post, thank you for sharing. The new entry price of new holders does provide a lot more support to the coin and makes it stronger, reduces the likelihood it will sell for less.

Not all small scale bitcoin holders panic when it comes to hodling bitcoin during periods of dips sometimes. Bitcoin holders are of course more confident when they have a larger number of bitcoins sitting in their wallet as hodlings however I don't think it's necessary to panic if you really wish to HODL your coins. Once a while it's okay to check price just to not be kinda clueless about your current hodlings.

If the user makes use of a cold wallet, it's ok to create a watch only wallet to keep watch of your hodlings for any potential threats. Since in the case of a cold wallet you are advised not to visit your seed too frequent to avoid losing your keys to hackers, scammers or malware.

Small-scale holders are usually inexperienced and poor people. Small-scale holders usually buy Bitcoin with all of their deposits, including emergency funds and when Bitcoin's price starts falling, they start to panic and sell immediately with the fear of losing more than they already lost. They completely ignore the long-term effect of holding Bitcoins and don't think about the possible fact that if they stay strong and keep their Bitcoins in their wallet for the next year, they might gain a huge profit.
I was like that too in 2016 but then I learnt from my mistakes and when there is a huge dip, I stay strong and my past experience gives me strong fundamentals in trading. I know that both, fall and rise are temporary and I have to stay strong to survive and profit.

The reason is basic and very simple to understand, shrimps (as you referred to the small holders as) are not really interested in the long term prospect of bitcoin and it's price, they are simply in for profit, and if paradventure, the market is dropping, they want to quickly sell either to cut their loses, and buy in back when the price of bitcoin have gotten lower, or they sell to take the profit that they have already accumulated, and possibly wait for price to get lower so they can buy in again and wait for another rise to sell.

So in the nutshell, I guess we can just say that holders of small amount of bitcoin are simply trading the spot price of bitcoin, not hodling, it kind of hurts to invest $10 and watch is turn to $5, most especially If the $10 was all you had, you will do everything you can to protect It even if it means selling when price is not moving in the desired direction.

But for someone who invested $5 million dollars, high chance is that that persons has $50 or more millions laying somewhere and even more coming in from businesses and companies, the $5m can drop to $2m and he won't bother about it knowing fully well that he got a good backup.

People with the way they do their investment, there are people who knows the future of bitcoin and what it holds for long run, while there are people who just think bitcoin is just a common assets that could be toyed with without knowing that it would worth something very special in the future. If you look the whales keep expanding there portfolio while the small investors do panic and sell to secure profits.
What just happened is that they are afraid to lose their money and you know as the first time they are investing in bitcoin they don't have much ideas and again, it seems they don't invest with what they can afford to lose because of they do there will be no day they would panicked and sell.

The most of it is the investor's previous intention on bitcoin, and the period they got hold of bitcoin. Arguably, not every small scale investor bought bitcoin for quick profits, the panic sellers were not just prepared to lose. Unfortunately, many amongst them purchased it at the wrong time; bull season. So, they'll have no more option than selling, due to the shock of losing their investment.

That's why we should only use the funds we are okay to freeze/spend / turn into BTC.
It's not a one-way ticket that will get you in one day to the Heavens of sorts.
It's an idea and a long-term path to cross.

The desire to sell is not only a thing with small scale investor but for people of different income levels. Few weeks ago, we saw how the German government dumped their Bitcoin in the market, amount running into millions which cannot be regarded as small scale investors. On the hand, there are still small investors that are holding and evening accumulating more. So selling and holding is an individual thing and depends on personal goals and targets.

Well it depends on what price the person is buying/selling bitcoin.
If in a falling market the person is selling at a higher price and buying at a lower price and then holding it then he would be gaining more profits.
But if the vice versa happnes then he would obviously losing more instead.
We get to learn these things only when we try it out but once we find out whether we are actually good in such trades or not only then we should follow this strategy.
I have failed in doing so and hence I prefer holding bitcoin instead. Holding has given me more profits than trading.

Whales already understand the path they are taking compared to small investors who only target profits but are not ready to accept risks. The level of knowledge in investment will leave a different impression, whales will welcome a crash with enthusiasm because they can accumulate assets when the price drops, but small investors will panic when the crash and immediately sell assets because they are not ready to bear the risk.

Anyone can invest in Bitcoin, but not everyone has sufficient literacy in the investment field. Small investors need to understand more deeply the situation that is happening in the Bitcoin market, they also need to pay attention to Bitcoin's liquidity and fundamentals that are able to survive when shocks occur so that panic selling no longer occurs.

Whales have more experience in success stories so they know when to buy and when to sell, of course those who are called whales are usually used to playing risks so that is what small bitcoin holders do not learn and always panic because they get short-term profits, not long-term profits like whales.

Hmm, So sorry that time I didn't have all day to this with you and I'm quite sure that same for you, even now I'll keep it simple and short as we don't have all day (Just kidding but really I don't have all the day). Anyway, firstly you've said what is trading and then moving to the main concern of odds where the price doesn't go down after a selling point, for the answer let me mention a significant portion of my previous post so you can read it.


Here is something I've mentioned called proper strategy implementation, which can save you from being trapped in such a situation you've mentioned, I'm not sure how experienced you are with crypto, but here no one knows the top and bottom everything is just a speculation based on mathematical calculations, so a smart investor never goes all in and all out on any point of the market cycle, this what goes under the risk management and strategic positioning. I hope this is enough for that question / concern whatever you call it.

Next moving to the point market went against his position for a long time and he made an exit after considering the profit is satisfying even they are pushed, I would comment on it how greedy that investor is even after a pushed satisfying profit he was waiting for an entry that good that he didn't got that entry otherwise he might have lost that amount too, as in the end motive was profit small or big moves along with the journey.

Next moving onto what should we advice to the newbies, my advice is mentioned above in the same quote, if you are passionate and have enough time go for long frame trading and even hold some potions, as its better to learn ans progress rather than wasting time and waiting for progress.

It is simple, these small scale holders has not grasp the importance of waiting or having patience.  They are there probably because they wanted to get rich quick, and is hyped to buy BTC to gain profit in the short span of time.  They are also not well informed about the volatility of Bitcoin and worst, they spend the money that they can't afford to lose buying BTC thinking that their money will profit soon and recover their investment with profit.

So the first moment BTC crashes, they are the first one to sell their holding to not suffer losses.  These small scale holder probably don't have  enough trust to the Bitcoin market.

Probably they are not for long term investment but for short term investment so when the market fluctuate to come down those small scale investors would be in fear and with the fear to lose all they would sell at that time to avoid further losing. Which is wrong and I see them not fully understand the cryptocurrency market. Whether small or big, your investment never lost and all what you have to do is to reschedule your investment plan to accumulate more if possible and wait patiently till when the price rise again then you can sell at the high price so you won't lose.

as happened to Bitcoin recently, it might give a little blow to small investors and make them panic because of a rapid decline. the condition of the asset value which initially only experienced a small decline still makes small investors not disturbed psychologically. but when several declines occur again and it makes the investment value decrease quite quickly, panic will occur.
even big investors may feel the same situation, but maybe their way of dealing with this market decline is not bad by selling assets. there is an opportunity for profit in the future when continuing to hold assets. but it all depends on the experience and knowledge of the investor.

Lets just say whales are in this for the long-term and will not be shaken by market dips that affect price..instead when price drops they simply buy more of the discounted coins unlike small scale hodlers who will panic if price goes against them especially if say they sold their car or house just to jump on the trending technological investment of the day...in short small scale hodlers want fast profits while protecting their capital and its really understandable if you know what's on the line!

First of all is not every low bitcoin investors that does panic selling as majority of them even hold more than some whales reason being that this are people with low investments in Bitcoin and they are still in accumulations stages of their investment where they still need to acquire more Bitcoins instead of selling but for any low coiner who sells their Bitcoins, they are just mere traders that prefers little peanuts they get as profits. Whales are the bigger investors so they actually know the impact of their investments in the price of Bitcoin and these are literally people with huge investments outside Bitcoin so they are never afraid of what the future of Bitcoin may hold because they invest with the confidence of making it huge and they also have the beliefs that if their investments in Bitcoin doesn't work out they have where to fall back to which is the real life investments they own so as they are buying more Bitcoins that is how they are also funding other real life assets they own since they literally use proceeds from those investments to fund their Bitcoin investments, but the reason why some low coiners will panic sell is practically because they may be afraid of the market fluctuations or they are just practicing buying and selling (trading).

Whale means someone with money right and they have investment in other forms. You can't compare someone who is trading Bitcoin to make some profits so they can pay their bills and take of their needs with someone that can buy more Bitcoin when it dumps. Some people are investing in Bitcoin because of little profit they can get and take care of their needs, that's what they do to make a living and survive so there is no way they can emulate whales ways.

Another reason is whales can do anything at anytime and has liquid capital somewhere to enjoy their investments. A typical Bitcoin investor doesn't have that power, for instance a whale open a long position of Bitcoin with $1M with liquidation at $10k price of Bitcoin while someone with little amount will have liquidation at $50k, they will sell immediately the sense danger in the market so, don't compare weak hands and diamond hands.

Recently it's the whales that are dumping. When we were above $60k it was small investors, but below 58k it's mostly hedge funds who held money with ETFs.
The only one that isn't selling is yet is BlackRock. This is happening because since bitcoin was exposed to Wall Street the markets became connected and stocks were going down by a lot, especially Intel and Nvidia. Stocks are heavily manipulated so it's not a surprise that traders are sending shock waves into various other assets. A good example of such manipulation was the FUD that they spread to lower Nvidia stock, claiming that it has received a subpoena. Know the real value of the asset you hold and don't react to panic. If you have any money on the side, this is a great moment to buy bitcoin. You'll thank me later ;)

That's the consequence if they only invest for money, not because they have really known their investment well or they started with an extensive research prior to investing. Whether it's bullish or bearish, I guess there's no problem with that, as long as they can handle every risk that comes and still continue hodling despite of the current market condition.

Yes, I also agree with this. Some people just want to invest for quick returns and believe that with bitcoin, it's highly possible. Even with big time investors, still the motivation to get quick profits is there, but majority who do this are actually those small scale investors. Probably because they want to grow quickly their small, budgeted funds, to the extent that they end up selling at a wrong timing, thus losing their investment and their future profits in the end.

This is true, but with this kind i don't think i can call them bitcoin holders. Those who hodl were always in the long run, at least several months to years plan of holding. What OP is talking is more like traders, small scale traders who usually panic when bitcoin is going on red side of chart.

The small investors or traders don't know in depth about Bitcoin and its future and that's the reason they sell in panic when they see Bitcoin price dropping too hard in short duration. I've seen investors who sold most of their Bitcoin because they didn't knew much about Bitcoin and were only curious to earn profit by investing in it.

It also depends on a investor mind, those who invested in Bitcoin when it's price was over $70k might have lost faith in it because their investment in down in value but those who understand the nature of Bitcoin may average their positions overtime and sell with profit in end.

Yes, that's making more sense. Those that are panicking aren't prepared for the losses that they are about to get. But they will only be at loss if they sell at loss. And if they are seeing the projection of their portfolio at loss, they can still recover somehow if they become patient and at the same time use that moment to keep on buying while the market or Bitcoin is at the dip.

IMHO, they can look at it as a blessing in disguise. And that is because they are seeing how this market works.

Well, most of them do sell at a loss, especially if they have bought just recently and the market starts going down. Most of such investors are the ones who have heard very much of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and they have the image in their mind that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are all about profit and nothing else, so as soon as they see their investments losing value, they lose their mind, and out of those emotions, they panic sell their assets at a loss.

In some cases though, weak hands might not sell at a loss, just like how you described it, if they have bought their assets at an earlier price, but then panic when the market starts dropping at a later time, they might only sell at a price that could be better if they had held longer, but it's a rarity, most weak hands would sell at a loss and without listening to any advise or anything.

Are they dumping or taking profits? Because if any whales bought bitcoin in the early days of ETFs approval, they are still making a profit. If I remember correctly, the bitcoin price in the early days of ETFs approval was below $45k and is still above $54k today.

Also, if we compare the inflows and outflows of ETFs, the selling volume is much smaller than the buying volume. That's why I don't think they are dumping and cutting losses.
I am not saying that whales will always be profitable and never lose but as big investors they will definitely have better strategies than small investors.

Overreacting to negative news or price trends is normal and can affect anybody, not just smaller scale holders. Whales tend to have more experience and have been through enough cycles to know that when the market is red, it will be a great time to accumulate.

For smaller holders, when you’ve invested a considerable amount of money into something, it might make you scared that you will lose it all if you don’t get out quick enough. It has happened to me several times with altcoin investments, and a majority of the time it was better to dump them than to wait for them to recover. Bitcoin is different from shitcoins, but people will still apply the same logic if they have not been holding BTC for very long.

That is the mentality of most retail investors, they buy high and sell low, because from the beginning they invested in Bitcoin to be able to get quick money by joining in scooping up when the Bitcoin price was high, but unfortunately the Bitcoin price fell and their mentality was not there to hold. If only they had a good mentality and understood Bitcoin investment, then they would think twice about selling at a time like now.

It happened to you in altcoins because altcoins are not a safe investment. Bitcoin is certainly to stay for a long period which means you dont have to fear that the price will dump completely to nothing but in altcoins it is dangerous because you dont trust the project to last long even if they look promising at the very beginning or when you invested your money.

Small-scale holders should rather find a way to grow the value of their portfolio and there are only three ways to do that. It's either to keep buying more bitcoin, partake in short-term trading, or leave it for long. When you evaluate these things properly you will understand that the only less risky way of growing the value of their portfolio is when they keep investing with the little they have. If they trade they may end up losing their money, if they leave the small portions like that it will gain value but in a very long time. At the end of the day it is left for the investor to choose whatsoever method he wants to go with his investment, I have only pointed out possible scenarios and one that is less risky because such investors are scared of losing their funds.

They understand the journey of bitcoin better and accumulating is an ongoing effort for the stages they have created. Whales have a consideration in terms of holding and they have large capital to make purchases according to what they want. While people who are involved in panic because they don't understand the journey of bitcoin and may be influenced by the capital used for investment to meet their living needs. That's why investing in bitcoin must have a long-term plan regarding the percentage of finances needed. At least for investment capital not to be mixed with daily necessities and if they don't have a mature plan, a price drop will make them panic.

Although I agree, it's not only the experience that matters. I'd also like to add into perspective the financial situation of said whales. The average investor who purchases through DCA or any other method every week cannot afford to see his investment dump in the timeframe of a few hours or days; it's devastating. Whales, on the other hand, may hold millions or even billions in assets; a loss is still a loss regardless of the amount, but they aren't going bankrupt because Bitcoin dumped 10%.

With that being said, it's perfectly understandable why someone who has worked hard to accumulate some Bitcoin will panic in major market downturns. I'm personally not bothered at all, but not everyone reacts the same way.

About Bitcoin, you are exactly correct. That's the actual gold standard for cryptocurrencies. Regarding your hard-earned income, you want it in something that will last. Bitcoin has that kind of lasting power. Everybody wants to turn around quickly and make money. But some turn to altcoins for fast riches? They more resemble a rollercoaster than a good financial plan. More likely you will lose your shirt; you might be lucky and strike the jackpot

Folks, slow and consistent wins the race. I so find the concept of progressively increasing your Bitcoin ownership appealing. Though far better than a savings plan. You are investing in the future of money, not merely stuffing cash beneath your mattress. And it goes beyond just money as well. It is related to mental peace. That is invaluable knowing your investments are safe and secure.

In the last few days inflows were 0 and outflows were 50-100 million a day per ETF. If I'm not wrong, only BlackRock did not sell, but I don't trust them since they're owned by a bank.
If they bought in the early days and wanted to take profit, wouldn't that be over $60k? We were between 60 and 70 for months so that's plenty of time to really take profit. When you go back near the level you've bought at after a 30% drop in price and you sell at what looks like a possible short-term bottom, I call that dumping, even if they technically are in profit by a few percent.

Your BTC is only safe and secure if you have it in your self custodial wallet and if you know what you are doing, some bitcoiners hold their BTC in centralized exchanges and some that use self custodial wallets hold their coins in online devices. Your BTC is only as safe as the device you store it in, and for it to be truly safe, it should be stored in a cold storage wallet, which is either a hardware wallet or an airgapped wallet, in addition with good opsec.

If you are someone who do have that limited budget or investment fund then you would really be mainly thinking on how you would really be that making something to it as much worth as possible and on the moment that market will really be having that kind of opposing direction on which it causing up for your portfolio on going reds then it cant be avoided that you would really be having that kind of impulsive reaction on which it will really be that mainly affects your investment. Further actions will really be determined on how good you are on handling out such stress and emotions on which it could be potentially be resulting into that sudden making of those decisions which might cause up with that panic selling. If you are someone whose really that new into this market then most likely you would really be that doing that most common action that most people do on which is to panic sell.

On the moment or time that they will really be doing such act then after the market do make out some recovery then this is the time or moment that they would really be having such regret.
This is always the case on which people do learn into their past mistakes and this what makes us even more better. The cycle continues as there would really be newbies who
would really be that entering into this volatile space and later on they do become that experienced but of course this is something which is a common mistake that we are really that able to experience on.

Small amount investors are the most likely to panic sell in panic markets because they are not mentally prepared to take risks. In a panic market they feel that the market may go down further so they face a situation where they have to face huge losses due to which they panic sell in a panic market. Again, those who are huge bitcoin investors are basically ready to take any kind of risk after investing in bitcoin, so no matter how big the panic market comes, they don't get upset and patiently overcome the panic market.

Because their investment preparation does not have a mentality, so when the price of bitcoin plummets they will panic rather than a continuous loss so it is better to sell at a loss no matter what the loss is as long as their money is saved... This is common that investors do not have strong experience so they do not know how the bitcoin cycle is now after passing the halving and they will even rule out the next bullrun.

I know investors who have experience they will not panic, precisely when the price drops they will buy more and continue to accumulate because it is the best opportunity to have more bitcoin... Whereas small investors will think fear of loss in the event of a price drop... If they don't sell, they won't lose.

But if the context is like this then I don't think this is too suitable when we only classify it to small investors because after all we must be aware regardless of small or large, everything is the same when talking about selling when panicking then indirectly they do not have the calmness and readiness to invest because they only think that the benefits are owned in bitcoin even though not everything is like that because we need to think about the worst possibilities that happen later.

Indirectly this is dominated by those who have just experienced being under great pressure in bitcoin for the first time because they have just stepped on themselves in bitcoin and no matter whether they are small or large investors, everything can be the same when they panic and sell even though they lose because of their inability to control their emotions and think that this will harm them.

Therefore, I do not really agree if you say those who panic sell when it is in decline are only categorized as small investors because this can also happen to them large investors.

You have a point. I guess it's not how big or small investor you are, but going into panic selling is not actually  surprising most especially with a highly volatile and speculative market. However, those investors who are born patient have high advantage as they won't resort into being too emotional when the market behaves negatively, but for those who are only here for quick profits and just want to hold for short term, then selling would be their best option right before they'll lose their profits.

Everyone intends to make quick money but when you get a better understanding of Bitcoin then you should not have a problem with making quick money from it. You can not think whether to hope for a quick one since the knowledge is already there, because I know how things can be we just need to have the patience to understand how the market works. and a lot of people are always doing that why would you buy high and sell low just because you have lost hope in the market and it is always for the main time, what will now be the purpose of investing and you are not making money, imagine buying at the rate of 60k and you are selling at the rate of 54k, it would have been better for you to spend the money than just waste it on the market.

And the unstable nature of Bitcoin should not make you hurry to sell you won't make anything tangle from it and that is one of the reasons they will always tell you that it is a long-term investment, if I should see anyone like that I will encourage them to learn to have patience. and also preparing ourselves is very important so that we don't go down the same hole. and that is one of the reasons you don't need to go too hasty when you want to invest in Bitcoin there is just too much for us to actually learn very important, it is only when you don't take your time that you fail to be able to mange your investment.

Patience will be formed when someone understands the investment journey that they are running and most people who panic because of excessive fear will make a loss in investment. Panic will make them more emotional in making decisions so they need knowledge to minimize it. Big investors have often experienced market pressure like this so they are more relaxed in dealing with it because of the experience they have. If people understand bitcoin, maybe the decisions taken when the market experiences downward pressure will be much more appropriate because they usually understand the journey of bitcoin well.

Here are a few reasons:

• Because they don't see the big picture.
• Because of the former, they are into Bitcoin solely for the profit.
• Because they're short-termers, who wish to go back with more fiat.
• Because they're "trading".

Yes very true because retail Investors use money that they need for investing but whales use money that they do not need for investing therefore, whales have the privilege to keep hodling but small investors will be panicking when they see the market falling. Most whales pray for the market to fall more but you can not see a small scale investor praying for that instead they want the market to continue to rise. Whales know that for them to make money, they have to buy more Bitcoin and the best time to do that is when the market is falling but small scale investors are always afraid. If we want to benefit from bitcoin, we need to think like whales and be buying Bitcoin instead of being scared that the market is falling. Thinking like whales means we should have a source of income that gives us capital to use for investing.

If you regularly track the inflows of bitcoin ETFs since they were approved and traded, you will see that the outflows are not even significant. But you are right to wonder why they didn't take profits when bitcoin hit $70k and are taking profits now. But they like us, cannot predict the future, no one knows what will happen to bitcoin tomorrow. Moreover, they invest with capital up to millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, so getting a profit of 5-10% is also a huge profit, and taking profit is never wrong. They are not like us who invest just a few dollars or a few hundred thousand dollars and think that 5-10% return is insignificant.

Also, as you can see, Grayscale is selling bitcoin and ETH every day, they don't seem to care about the price of bitcoin. Simply because they invested in bitcoin and ETH years ago and the price of bitcoin was much lower then than it is now.

From the chart, we can see that the amount of bitcoin held by ETFs is increasing over time.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/09/08/BS4Yo.png
https://farside.co.uk/btc/

First, why are you putting a dollar sign in "BTC"? It's like putting a dollar sign on a pound sign. When you say "100 BTC" I don't see a need to add the dollar sign behind it because that could mean a whole different thing.  If you're saying $100 in BTC is a different thing.
That's by the way.

Whales have more money, more income and more capital, so it's easier for them to hold compared to people who don't earn much. Before a person can have 100BTC in his wallet which is worth over $5.6 million currently, the person is already a millionaire and has other assets and investments and a lot of money to take care of himself with, the same cannot be said about a person who has a thousand dollars in bitcoin. He earns a relatively lower income and every dollar matters more to a person like that.

Not every sale is a panic sale, smart traders (not holders) are analyzing the market and try to time it right by selling high and re-buying again at lower price.

Some do it manually, other use advanced trading bots powered by AI and models that were trained specifically for it.

I am not a trader my self, I just hold because I believe in future price appreciation on the project I'm in and I don't want to "miss the train" while trading back and forth looking for more gains.

Now if someone sales out of panic, he probably invested more than he can afford to lose.

Hard times and a shitty economy. Wages and earnings and lower and stretch far less forcing some people to dip into their savings and investments just to survive get the bills paid and food in their families belly perhaps in many cases. In other cases people have lost faith or it’s just FUD

That is your thought, not their own. The thing is that not all of us can be able to invest and hold for a long time. Some people can hold it, but they cannot endure seeing the price of bitcoin fall when their money is already invested; they find it difficult to hold it. They feel like the price is going to continue falling,

 which is not so, although it may be due to insufficient knowledge of bitcoin investment, but the fact is that many of them hate it when they see the price. Some have the money, but they just invest the amount they can afford to lose; they can’t add more to it, and I can blame them on that; it’s their decision, and that is what they feel like will go well for them. 

There are 2 reasons as to why.
1. These small scale holders that you are saying are probably those newbie investors that are selling their Bitcoin holdings because of the negative news that they saw online, and since they're newbies, they are sometimes panicking therefore, making bad decisions such as selling their tokens at a loss.
2. These small scale holders don't only sell because they panicked. They are selling because they want to take profits. Nothing more.

I just don't like the thinking where you are generalizing us small scale holders that we are panicking most of the time while those who have lots of BTC holding already are continuing to accumulate even more. At the end of the day, we have different strategies, and the strategy of those whales are to continue to accumulate until it reach a certain point where they need to sell their Bitcoins. As for us small scale holders, yes there are some who are panic selling, but can we just think at least for once that we are selling because we are taking profits and not panic selling?

They panic to sell to avoid loss of their funds because they have little or no money to incure their daily expenses and pay their bills.
 Fear of the market price, if it will go below the amount they use in Bitcoin since they have more of their resources in Bitcoin than what they can really get to invest into Bitcoin .
Some persons borrow these money to invest and in other for them to be able to return the money back to their creditor, they tend to panic and sell off to be on a safe side.   

 

In my opinion maybe they invest more than they can afford to lose, so they panic and decide to sell bitcoins. Maybe they have less idea about Bitcoin, maybe they don't trust Bitcoin. Those who believe Bitcoin is trustworthy never panic. But not all small investors panic. Those who invest small amounts in the DCA method do not panic when the market goes down but have a long-term plan. Actually investing in Bitcoin should have a long term plan. If you cannot hold bitcoins for the long term, then investing in bitcoins is not for you.