Bitcoin’s sharp 6.58% surge to $63,358 over the past 24 hours was primarily fueled by large-scale whale investors rather than institutional inflows, according to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju. His analysis points to heavy whale accumulation and trading dominating both spot and futures markets, challenging hopes for a broad institutional comeback.
Ju highlighted persistent net outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs and Bitcoin’s first-half downtrend as evidence that institutional sentiment remains cautious. Meanwhile, CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost noted that market liquidity remains weak, with the combined market caps of stablecoins USDT and USDC shrinking in June — a sign that more capital is leaving crypto than entering. The Bitcoin exchange whale ratio also jumped from 0.49 to 0.63, indicating whales are moving coins to exchanges for potential profit-taking.
The rally’s momentum has already cooled, with BTC retesting the 50% RSI level before retreating over 2%. Weak spot inflows and elevated derivatives positioning further support the view that the rebound may be short-lived unless a fresh catalyst emerges. One possible wildcard is chatter that the U.S. Federal Reserve could inject liquidity into markets, some of which might flow into crypto.
Overall, analysts see the current rally as fragile and whale-driven, carrying elevated volatility risk for retail traders.
