After ‘hawkish’ Powell… OG whales sold $120 million worth of Bitcoin in just one day

JOON HYOUNG LEE

Summary

Following the US Federal Reserve’s rate decision, OG whales were reported to have sold Bitcoin worth about $120 million.
Bitcoin fell more than 5% from the previous session and briefly dipped below $70,000, weighing on risk-asset sentiment.
The Fed’s hawkish stance and a strengthening 'higher-for-longer' narrative left investors with little choice but to abandon expectations for an early rate cut.

Forecast Trend Report by Period

Early Bitcoin (BTC) investor whales were found to have unloaded Bitcoin worth $120 million following the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) rate decision.

CoinDesk reported on the 19th (local time), citing data from on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain, that at least two OG whales sold about 1,650 bitcoins early that morning. At current prices, that amounts to $118 million.

The selling is seen as a move reflecting Bitcoin’s downward price trend. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin plunged more than 5% on the day from the previous session, briefly falling below $70,000. CoinDesk said, “This downturn followed the Fed’s hawkish rate decision,” adding, “The Fed kept its policy rate unchanged but signaled it would slow the pace of future rate cuts, disappointing risk-asset investors.”

Matt Mena, a crypto analyst at asset manager 21Shares, told CoinDesk, “With persistent inflation and the shadow cast by rising energy costs, the ‘higher-for-longer’ narrative is regaining momentum,” adding, “As a result, investors have little choice but to abandon expectations for an early rate-cut cycle.”

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