Mignolet Flags Massive Whale Selling Wave Behind Bitcoin's Recent Pullback

Bitcoin faced significant selling pressure this morning, dropping to $87.88K with a 24-hour decline of -1.25% and $1.14B in trading volume. According to CryptoQuant analyst Mignolet, the current market downturn tells a revealing story about who’s actually driving the sell-off. The surge in the Coinbase Premium Gap (CPG) suggests something more nuanced than typical retail panic selling—it points directly to institutional-scale actors making coordinated moves outside traditional funding channels.

The Strongest CPG Selling Premium in Recent Memory

Mignolet highlighted that the market just experienced its most intense Coinbase Premium Gap selling premium in an extended period. This metric, which tracks the price difference between Coinbase and aggregate exchange prices, serves as a crucial indicator of where major selling pressure originates. When CPG spikes in the negative direction, it typically signals that significant volume is being liquidated through major exchange platforms, but the timing and pattern reveal something even more specific about this particular wave.

Non-ETF Whale Addresses Emerge as the Primary Sellers

What makes this selling event particularly noteworthy, according to Mignolet’s analysis, is that Bitcoin ETF markets were closed during the relevant trading period. This crucial detail eliminates a likely culprit—the institutional flows that typically flow through spot ETF products. Instead, the selling pressure originated from whale addresses operating independently outside the ETF ecosystem. These large holders executed their transactions through traditional exchange mechanisms, not through the passive investment vehicles that have become dominant in recent months.

The distinction between ETF-driven and non-ETF whale selling matters significantly for market interpretation. Direct whale transactions often indicate more deliberate, potentially strategic moves rather than passive rebalancing or institutional fund flows.

A Familiar Pattern Resurfaces in Crypto Markets

Mignolet noted that this CPG-driven selling pattern led by US-based whale addresses represents a traditional market behavior that has emerged multiple times throughout Bitcoin’s history. These cyclical episodes where large holders systematically reduce positions create recognizable patterns in on-chain data. The return of this pattern suggests that despite the maturation of cryptocurrency markets through ETF adoption, individual whale actors retain significant influence over short-term price movements.

Understanding these patterns helps traders and analysts distinguish between temporary whale liquidations and more fundamental shifts in market sentiment, an increasingly important skill as Bitcoin navigates between institutional and decentralized liquidity sources.