Bitcoin’s major rally from under $65,000 to over $81,000 within a week or so changed the broader market sentiment from fear to greed, with analysts initially rushing to call the end of the bear phase.
However, its inability to push through the $81,000 resistance and the two rejections, alongside the Fed’s hawkish stance on Friday, added further doubt, both from a technical and a macro perspective. The good news is that whales have returned in full force.
$3B in BTC
Citing data from Santiment Intelligence, popular analyst Ali Martinez noted that these large market participants have accumulated roughly $3 billion worth of bitcoin in the past week alone. Adding more than 39,150 BTC in just seven days signals that this crucial cohort of investors continues to show interest in the primary cryptocurrency, alongside ETF buyers, who poured over $920 million into the funds in the past week.
In a separate post, Martinez doubled down on the whales’ growing activity, arguing that the recent rally was driven primarily by them. In contrast, retail investors have remained mostly on the sidelines or in the opposite corner, as further on-chain data suggests they have actually been selling.
$3 BILLION IN BITCOIN BOUGHT BY WHALES
Whales accumulated more than 39,154 bitcoin:native over the past week, signaling continued interest by large investors. https://t.co/JbIrOvfw8F pic.twitter.com/vEPbSJiv73
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) August 30, 2026
But More Pain Ahead?
Following the Friday Jackson Hole speech by new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, in which he displayed a more hawkish stance, analysts are not so adamant that the bear market is completely over.
Rekt Capital warned earlier that BTC’s real test begins after the strong weekly close. He argued that if the latest surge is ultimately a bear-market relief rally, the cryptocurrency could pull back in the following few weeks. It now stands to demonstrate sustained strength at these elevated levels rather than immediately giving back the breakout.
Crypto Haris presented a considerably more bearish scenario, describing the move from $65,000 to $80,000 in days as a potential bull trap. Moreover, the analyst expects BTC to decline to $74,000 at first, before another leg down takes it back to the $67,000 region.
In general, Haris believes the cryptocurrency will first fall back to $62,000 before it eventually pumps to $90,000.
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