The price of Bitcoin has been under intense pressure so far in 2026, with the bear market wiping out the profits of several classes of investors. According to the latest on-chain data, this trend could have a broader ripple effect on the premier cryptocurrency in this bear market, especially as it affects an important cohort of the largest BTC investors.
Whales’ Realized Losses Could Put Further Pressure On Price
In a February 13th post on the social media platform X, pseudonymous crypto analyst Darkfost shared an insight into the current holdings of a relevant group of investors known as Bitcoin whales. According to the market pundit, the unrealized profits of this investor cohort are getting wiped out by the current market correction.
Specifically, this on-chain is based on the Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) metric of the “Big Whales,” which represents addresses holding more than 1,000 BTC. For context, the NUPL is a ratio of investors’ unrealized profits and losses; with a high (and often positive) ratio indicating the dominance of unrealized profits, while a negative value suggests otherwise.
According to the highlighted CryptoQuant data, the NUPL value for the largest Bitcoin whales currently stands at around 0.2. As shown in the chart below, this NUPL level (around the yellow region) has historically coincided with well-advanced stages of the bear market, meaning that this group of whales is nearing zero unrealized profits.
Source: @Darkfost_Coc on X
While this is yet to be the case, it is worth mentioning that these BTC whales have historically always held mostly unrealized losses at bear market bottoms. Hence, what’s important is what happens with their holdings between now and the end of the current corrective phase.
According to Darkfost, whales’ holdings being under this much pressure could mean market capitulation, further dragging the Bitcoin price downward. Hints of this trend can already be seen in recent days, especially amongst the new whales.
These short-term Bitcoin whales are currently realizing significant losses at a rapid rate. Between February 3 and 7, more than $3 billion in losses were realized by this new group of whales. In essence, sustained capitulation by this investor cohort could be a fresh source of selling pressure for the BTC price.
Bitcoin Price At A Glance
As of this writing, the price of BTC stands at around $68,710, reflecting an over 5% jump in the past 24 hours. According to data from CoinGecko, the premier cryptocurrency is down by nearly 3% in the past week.
The price of BTC on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView
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