How big is a whale?

[Febo]

A Basilosaurus typically grew to a size of 40 to 65 feet (12 to 20 meters) length.

[BitUsher]

I define a whale as one that has enough assets that they can move/manipulate the market with bear/bull traps. With BTC this means at least 3-5k btc; alts can easily be manipulated with much less.

[CoinCajigger]

I define a whale as one that has enough assets that they can move/manipulate the market with bear/bull traps. With BTC this means at least 3-5k btc; alts can easily be manipulated with much less.

Well said... You can be a whale for one coin if you have the ability to move it like this or if you are to be called a whale for all of crypto you need to be able to do this for bitcoin and any of the others.

[andyatcrux]

there isn't really a set amount for being a whale since the whale is not an exact explanation. and i think it differs from market to market. but basically you can call anybody who has deep pocket and can control the market price if he whishes.
can be 1000BTC
or can be 10,000,000 [put altcoin name here]

And in relation to the distribution of BTC.
Get it ?
BTC top holders are rare.. people who have a super small amount are common.
So even though a super small BTC holder *may* be able to control a super small ALT market
i don't think that makes him a true whale.. more of a pseudo-whale of sorts LOL

I would think we have to attribute some rarity to the term "Whale"
In other words we all can't be whales.
Most of us have at times been able to control an entire market (on a coin nearly dead for example)
It often does not take much at all..
Would most of us be considered Whales then ?
no.

"It's relative" is a good reply but i think the distribution of BTC itself is key too.
Who has how much etc..

EDIT:
I would NOT specify an exact amount / limits etc.

This is the Pseudorca crassidens (false killer whale) that you speak of? 



This is the guy that plays with 3 BTC on Yobit. Watch out for his presence as he can give you a false sense of market liquidity in a sea of shitcoin.

[Spoetnik]

I define a whale as one that has enough assets that they can move/manipulate the market with bear/bull traps. With BTC this means at least 3-5k btc; alts can easily be manipulated with much less.

Well if we're trying to work out the definition then i have another thought..

I have seen a random guy come in that quite likely was a one time buyer.
This user just went to an exchange then bought a HUGE shitload of coins..
Such as Cryptsy + VTC (VertCoin)
All i seen was a bit of buying for a week or two then nothing ever again. (back in early 2014)
And he was throwing orders down for a million dollars then letting people dump into it like crazy.
I dumped all i had into it when he came back one of those times.

So i am asking you all would a one time large coin buyer be consider a Whale?
Me? I am not so sure.

I kept thinking back then too that when i mentioned it on Cryptsy Chat
that some users had chanted "Pump" like he was doing it to pump the coin or setup walls etc.
But he was NOT Pumping the coin at all!
And i had watched the guy carefully for a fair amount of time..
All he was doing is trying to throw down large buy orders then ALLOWING people to dump into it hard.
This person was simply trying to "BUY some coins"

So as per definition here people.. does intent matter?

[BitUsher]

So as per definition here people.. does intent matter?

Intent shouldn't matter.... That example is of an individual who at least temporarily could be considered a whale because they moved or manipulated the market to either pump a coin or just buy some coins. The whale swallowed all of the bag holders dumped coins in this example. In such scenarios it is also impossible to definitively determine intent. The imagery of a whale is one that can move or manipulate the surrounding environment around them because their displacement, thus a whale is best defined by the ratio of market liquidity/depth to the whales assets.

[wizzardTim]

For me a whale is anyone whose moves have a big impact on the market.

So the amount of coins varies depending on each market depth.

[sandiman]

I have to say that the troll attempt in this topic finally made me laught

[Flozbrand]

It obviously depends on which market.
To be a whale in the ETH market you need 600-800BTC.

In other markets you are a whale with 100-200BTC. (Some below, a few higher).

[Jastetad]

It obviously depends on which market.
To be a whale in the ETH market you need 600-800BTC.

In other markets you are a whale with 100-200BTC. (Some below, a few higher).

The daily volume of Ethereum is about 20,000 bitcoin. 800 bitcoin is just 4% of daily volume. Can you manipulate the market with so few coins?

[BitUsher]

The daily volume of Ethereum is about 20,000 bitcoin. 800 bitcoin is just 4% of daily volume. Can you manipulate the market with so few coins?

Volume doesn't matter as much as Market depth and ether certainly has very shallow market depth. One thing that is confusing many is the false assumption that Ether's inflation is being supported by new investors when this isn't at all true. Ether is still relatively cheap and being mined with GPU's where many miner can afford to hodl their ETH in hopes for a big payday unlike BTC where Miners are forced to sell most their btc to new investors to pay for electricity and asic upgrades. The price of Eth could come crashing down much quicker and I'm sure many of the buy walls will vanish if much less than 800 btc worth of Eth were sold off by a whale.

[Yaupgitda]

The daily volume of Ethereum is about 20,000 bitcoin. 800 bitcoin is just 4% of daily volume. Can you manipulate the market with so few coins?

Volume doesn't matter as much as Market depth and ether certainly has very shallow market depth. One thing that is confusing many is the false assumption that Ether's inflation is being supported by new investors when this isn't at all true. Ether is still relatively cheap and being mined with GPU's where many miner can afford to hodl their ETH in hopes for a big payday unlike BTC where Miners are forced to sell most their btc to new investors to pay for electricity and asic upgrades. The price of Eth could come crashing down much quicker and I'm sure many of the buy walls will vanish if much less than 800 btc worth of Eth were sold off by a whale.

The 800 bitcoin whale is just a small whale. If you look at the price surge or dump, several thousands of bitcoins are involved.

[BitUsher]

The 800 bitcoin whale is just a small whale. If you look at the price surge or dump, several thousands of bitcoins are involved.

You are not considering the high inflation or the fact that it is really easy to pump up the market cap with a relatively small amount of BTC when almost none of the pre mine and newly mined coins are being sold. It is difficult to quantify how much of this new pump is from new investors as exchanges and day traders manipulate order books for profit so reviewing volume isn't a good indication of new adoption.

The same could be said with BTC market cap... It doesn't take much to drive down BTC's price, but a hell of a lot less to drive down ETH.

[Raja_MBZ]

The person carrying amount of bitcoins which can be filled up in the belly of real blue whale... is known as whale of bitcoin. I'd say, 1000 bitcoin is enough for a whale.

[raphma]

its impossible to measure that.... it depends. The coin, the exchange, the hour.... everything counts.

[emberbekas]

For me, a whale is a person that can influence the price movement with his/her activities. For example, if he/she bought some coins then the coins price will be increasing significanly and when he/she sold the coins the price will be down significanly aswell. I saw some whales couple months ago when some people digging a bunch of clam coins from his btc and doge addies and then sold the clams at the lowest price and suddently the price move down so deep and till now the clam price stay at the lowest price.

[bitwhizz]

The size of a whale can be measured by doubling half its size - hope i answered your question

[Tacalt]

The size of a whale can be measured by doubling half its size - hope i answered your question

This did not give any useful information. I think a whale has enough power to manipulate the market for a few days.

[alyssa85]

there isn't really a set amount for being a whale since the whale is not an exact explanation. and i think it differs from market to market. but basically you can call anybody who has deep pocket and can control the market price if he whishes.
can be 1000BTC
or can be 10,000,000 [put altcoin name here]

And in relation to the distribution of BTC.
Get it ?
BTC top holders are rare.. people who have a super small amount are common.
So even though a super small BTC holder *may* be able to control a super small ALT market
i don't think that makes him a true whale.. more of a pseudo-whale of sorts LOL

Remember that margin trading is a thing - so someone can borrow large amounts of fiat to set up a buy wall and borrow large amounts of BTc to set up a sell wall - but in reality own a small amount, and are paying interest on the borrowed amounts.

[Lokfar]

Well it depend on the coin I think. 10 BTC can be large for a typical alt but for bitcoin it is nothing.
If you over over 20% of the coins you can be considered a whale.