Whales Sell BTC; CZ Urges Calm Amid ETF Outflows

Bitcoin changed hands near $61,100 on June 9, down roughly 10% for the week as large wallets trimmed exposure and spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded continued outflows. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao posted a brief message urging calm: “Bitcoin won’t be ‘dead’ for too long. Don’t panic.”

Trading firm Wintermute attributed the pullback to U.S. institutional selling and ETF withdrawals rather than retail panic. Wintermute reported that prior technical support in the $50,000-59,000 range is absent and that flows are driving price action, writing, “With prior support gone, there’s not much underneath to lean on. BTC never spent meaningful time in the $50-59k range on the way up in 2024, so there are no real technical levels here. That leaves flow as the thing setting direction.”

Spot Bitcoin ETFs logged nine consecutive days of outflows through late May, a streak Wintermute estimated at about $2.97 billion through May 30.

On-chain analytics from Santiment showed retail wallets increased holdings while larger wallets reduced theirs. Wallets holding less than 0.01 BTC raised their collective balance by about 0.36% over two weeks, while addresses holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC cut holdings by roughly 0.20%.

Santiment noted that durable cycle lows have historically followed widespread retail capitulation, a pattern not present in current data. The analytics firm wrote, “That widespread surrender simply isn’t showing up yet.”

Macro data also affected market conditions. The U.S. economy added 172,000 jobs in May, above near-term forecasts, and April payrolls were revised up to 179,000. The stronger employment data coincided with higher Treasury yields.

MicroStrategy sold 32 BTC during the period, its first disposal since 2022; the company characterized the sale as small in size.

Some long-term investors increased positions quietly at current levels. With continued ETF outflows and mixed activity across wallet cohorts, market participants are watching whether larger holders return to buying or if retail accumulation sustains any short-term rebound.