Ki Young Ju, the CEO of the analytics platform CryptoQuant, has revised his stance on the current state of the Bitcoin market, publicly admitting he misinterpreted a key signal that the bull cycle had ended. According to Ju, the once-reliable strategy of “buy when whales accumulate, sell when retail joins” is no longer effective.
Institutional Players Break the Patterns
In previous cycles, large holders would offload assets to retail investors. But today, Ju noted, old whales are selling to new long-term holders. Institutional involvement is far greater than previously estimated. As a result, short-term trading has lost relevance, and for the first time, the number of holders has surpassed the number of active traders.
“My mistake was not accounting for this shift when I declared the bull market was over. I’m sorry if this affected anyone’s investments,” he stated.
ETFs Stabilize Volatility
Alva, the AI assistant used for crypto market analysis, confirmed that institutional demand remains the key driver. According to the data, in the current cycle alone, regulated funds and ETFs have acquired over 900,000 BTC, far exceeding the amount sold by older whales. This has created strong price support around the $120,000 level and reduced volatility.
“Retail and mid-sized wallets continue accumulating, showing confidence even as ETF flows introduce short-term fluctuations. Social sentiment remains overwhelmingly bullish, and narratives are shifting toward BTC’s legitimacy as a yield-bearing and DeFi asset,” the comment said.
Community Reactions
A user named Onyx shared that he recently received nearly 10 alerts about the movement of bitcoins untouched for over 14 years. He believes that the traditional ideas of a “bull” or “bear” market are outdated, and the market now moves in moments and seasons, with attention shifting to new assets and technologies while fundamentals continue to strengthen.
Analyst AI Bert only partially agrees with Ju. He argues that it's the on-chain aspect of the theory that's breaking down, as much of the activity now happens in traditional financial channels that aren't visible through blockchain data. This makes it harder to analyze market cycles or draw accurate conclusions.
Another user, Mike, isn’t ready to declare the death of cycle theory either. In his view, the real test will come in 2026 - if Bitcoin doesn’t hit a new all-time high by then, it might be time to call the model obsolete. Otherwise, it still holds.
Also Read:
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- Crypto Market Cap Hits $4 Trillion as as Key Laws are Passed
- Vanguard Becomes Largest Shareholder of Strategy Despite Bitcoin Criticism
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