How big is a whale?

[hitchingAride]

How many BTC do you need to be considered a whale in the altcoin markets. I consider a whale anyone who moves markets significantly when their open positions are set up causing massive walls or when they can make a big affect by just exiting or entering a position. So would 500 BTC make someone a whale or is even less needed in the alt coin market?

[onlinedragon]

Interesting question when you can call someone a whale. they are really rich but not sure what is the minimum amount of BTC.

[JosNekoKopa]

Go to BTC e and see those walls 100 to 300 btc those are small whales. If you go to Bittrex you can see alts you can see almost 50 wallets have over 1000 ETH and some of them have over 10000 of eth. You know now who are the whales and what they are doing..

[TrueCryptonaire]

A whale is always a little bit bigger than you so it keeps you buying the coin all the time. 

[mtnsaa]

I think it also depends on the altcoin, for ETH and other high volume coins 100-200 BTC buys or sells won't really have a huge impact on the price. But in others a 200 BTC buy will definitely increase the price even by 50% or more...so basically it depends on the market, all of them are whales but they turn into bigger or smaller whales depending on the sea they are moving in hehe.

[hv_]

In the FX world its above 100 Mio$   
Since BTC is just a fraction 100k will move the markets already!

[BigBoom3599]

For some altcoins its only a couple of bitcoins or even less, for the more popular altcoins its way more.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

In the FX world its above 100 Mio$   
Since BTC is just a fraction 100k will move the markets already!

Yes and think about how small a whale you'd need to be to move a shitcoin that trades for 2 satoshis or something like that.   It all depends on the size and depth of the market you're talking about.

[EmilioMann]

I think someone must have at least 1,000 bitcoins to be called whale in the crypto world

[Za1n]

I think someone must have at least 1,000 bitcoins to be called whale in the crypto world

Well not only having a large amount of coins, in this case I would agree 1,000 is a good amount to be called a whale, but also the willingness to put such an large amount on the exchanges in order to manipulate markets. You may have 1,000 BTC, but may only be comfortable putting 100 or so of that amount on exchanges, so in this sense you still would not be a whale in terms of trading. So to be a true whale, you would need 10,000 BTC (or its equivalent ~$4,000,000) and only risk 10% of that on exchanges.

[galacticpilgrim]

I find it fascinating to watch some of the big players wallets fluctuate in value and then just know there's gonna be some volume. The anonymous transparency of crypto sure beats the fiat system. Nowhere do you get to watch others accounts like in crypto explorers. 

[newb4now]

Impossible question. It is all relative.

To a 9 year old chasing BTC faucets, someone with 1 BTC is extremely wealthy.

[andyatcrux]

Back when Poloniex was averaging about 300 BTC trade volume daily, a person with 20 BTC could move most of the markets on there. BTC-e was basically the only high volume market with very few altcoins. Cryptsy had some varying volume but nothing like what we see now with Poloniex pulling down 50,000 BTC or more daily. Times have changed. It's definitely all relative when defining a whale.

[Spoetnik]

The consensus here so far is correct.. Spoetnik Approved™

This topic title kept making me think of Blue Whales and the size of them..
This is a good thing!
Those mammals are monumentally mammoth!

[Timeline]

I would consider someone who has more than 1m to play with a whale. So about 2500 BTC.
I think only the few top altcoins should be considered here. Yes someone could be in away considered a whale when he moves
some shitcoin markets with 0.1 BTC but I stick to my 1m/2500BTC rule.

[alyssa85]

In bitcoin space, someone with about 5000 BTC (based on me seeing a wall of that size during the last pump). On the alt side, about 20BTC, though some of the people playing with ETh are former BTC whales who have goten bored with bitcoin.   

[Jastetad]

In bitcoin space, someone with about 5000 BTC (based on me seeing a wall of that size during the last pump). On the alt side, about 20BTC, though some of the people playing with ETh are former BTC whales who have goten bored with bitcoin.   

For Ethereum, you need at least 100 bitcoin to be a whale.

[RoommateAgreement]

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]

[Spoetnik]

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.

[Nxtblg]

How many BTC do you need to be considered a whale in the altcoin markets. I consider a whale anyone who moves markets significantly when their open positions are set up causing massive walls or when they can make a big affect by just exiting or entering a position. So would 500 BTC make someone a whale or is even less needed in the alt coin market?

Well, there's always the Woody Allen definition:

"A whale is someone who holds a lot more coins than I'll ever have."