Bitcoin Price Today: BTC Whales Keep Accumulating Even as Price Drops

Bitcoin price dipped to $76,000 today, but bulls managed to protect this range which currently acts as strong support.

In the past 24 hours, BTC traded between $76,000 and $77,700. No crazy volatility, just sluggish movement. Let’s dig into the main Bitcoin price news today, May 19.

CryptoQuant: Bitcoin’s Correction Was Expected – 200-Day MA Rejection

CryptoQuant’s head of research, Julio Moreno, tweeted that he and his team have been writing about a coming price correction for several weeks. The warning signs were clear: high unrealized profits, a spike in profit taking in spot and futures markets, a slowdown in US spot demand, and technical/on-chain price resistance.

On May 13, Moreno noted that Bitcoin had reached a major bear market resistance level: the 200-day moving average at $82.4K. That followed a 37% price rally from April lows. The parallel with March 2022 is direct. In that cycle, Bitcoin rallied 43% before hitting the 200-day MA, after which the price resumed its downward trend. The current setup raises the question of whether history will repeat.

Traders’ unrealized profit margins reached 17.7% on May 5, 2026, the highest reading since June 2025. That signals elevated selling pressure risk, as holders sitting on large unrealized gains become increasingly incentivized to distribute. These margin levels mirror those seen in March 2022, precisely when Bitcoin last tested the 200-day MA before resuming its decline.

Daily realized profits spiked to 14.6K BTC on May 4, 2026, the highest level since December 10, 2025. That suggests profit-taking has begun. Historically, spikes of this magnitude in bear market rallies have preceded local price tops, as the cohort of newly profitable short-term holders accelerates distribution into price strength.

The Coinbase Bitcoin Price Premium turned negative in late April and has remained in negative territory. That signals a deceleration in US investor demand as price approached $80K. A sustained positive Coinbase premium is a prerequisite for durable price rallies; its absence suggests the current move lacks broad-based US institutional conviction. Concurrently, spot apparent demand contraction has narrowed from -91K BTC in April to -11K BTC today – improving but still negative – while demand growth remains concentrated in speculative perpetual futures positions rather than spot accumulation.

If a price correction materializes, the primary on-chain support level sits near $70K: the Traders’ On-chain Realized Price. This level has historically acted as a key resistance-turned-support band during bear markets, representing the average cost basis of short-term traders.

Since that May 13 warning, Bitcoin indeed entered a correction phase and dipped from over $81K to below $77K.

Santiment: Wallets With 100+ BTC Hit 20,229 – Up 11.2% Year-Over-Year

Santiment reported a big long-term trend today. The amount of wallets holding at least 100 Bitcoin has risen to 20,229. That is an 11.2% increase compared to the 18,191 wallets holding at least this level a year ago.

Wallets of this size (currently worth about $7.7 million or more) are often associated with whales, major investors, institutions, and highly capitalized long-term holders. Even with Bitcoin price experiencing major volatility throughout the past year, these large wallets have continued to steadily accumulate rather than shrink in number.

Historically, rising whale wallet counts are viewed as a sign that key stakeholders still have confidence in Bitcoin’s future value and scarcity. What makes this especially notable is that the growth in 100+ BTC wallets has continued during periods where retail traders have frequently shown fear, impatience, or skepticism.

Chart analysis (Santiment): The chart shows the number of 100+ BTC wallets climbing steadily from roughly 18,200 in mid-2025 to over 20,200 by May 2026. The line is smooth and upward sloping, with no major dips despite price volatility. This contrasts with Bitcoin’s price candles, which peaked near $90K in late 2025, crashed to $60K in early 2026, then rallied to $82K before correcting. Through all of that, whale wallets kept growing. The trend is clear: big players are accumulating regardless of short-term price moves.

Read also: ChatGPT Predicts the XRP Price If Bitcoin Crashes to $50K

Bitcoin News Today (May 19)

Galaxy Digital gets BitLicense in New York

Galaxy Digital’s subsidiary, GalaxyOne Prime NY, was granted a BitLicense and Money Transmission License by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). This allows the firm to offer regulated trading and custody services to institutional clients like hedge funds and family offices in New York. This is a major regulatory win and could bring more institutional capital into the crypto market through a trusted, regulated gateway.

User recovers 5 BTC after 11 years using Claude AI

A user known as cprkrn regained access to 5 BTC (worth roughly $398,000) after being locked out of a Blockchain.com wallet for 11 years. The recovery was aided by Anthropic’s AI, Claude, which identified an encrypted backup in old files and guided the use of the btcrecover tool to match a forgotten password.

This followed failed professional recovery attempts costing $250 and over 3.5 trillion brute-force guesses. This is a neutral-to-bullish narrative for Bitcoin, demonstrating that long-lost coins can sometimes be recovered, potentially reducing fears of permanent supply loss. However, it raises important questions about the risks of uploading sensitive wallet data to AI platforms.

And most importantly, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs had $649 million in net outflows on May 18, based on SoSoValue data.

Bitcoin Price Prediction Today (May 19)

Bearish scenario

BTC breaks below $76,000 support. Next stop is $75,000, then the trader realized price near $70,000. Profit-taking continues, ETF outflows persist, and macro headwinds (oil, yields) keep pressure on risk assets.

Bullish scenario

BTC reclaims $78,000 by daily close. Whale accumulation (100+ BTC wallets at 20,229) provides a bid. Galaxy Digital’s BitLicense brings fresh institutional interest. A move back above $80,000 would invalidate the bearish setup.

Likely scenario

Range trading between $76,000 and $78,000 for the next 24-48 hours. The correction phase is not over, but whale wallets keep growing. The 200-day MA rejection is real, but $76K support has held twice. Expect choppy sideways action with a slight downward bias. The next catalyst is the MicroStrategy SEC filing (expected May 19) and any CLARITY Act updates.

Overall, Bitcoin is in a range between $76K and $78K after rejecting the 200-day MA at $82.4K. CryptoQuant’s warning of a correction played out. Profit-taking spiked, US demand weakened, and the March 2022 parallel is concerning. Yet Santiment shows wallets with 100+ BTC hit 20,229 – an 11.2% yearly increase. Whales keep accumulating. Galaxy Digital’s BitLicense is a positive institutional step. The short-term trend is down, but long-term holders are not selling.

FAQs

Are Bitcoin whales still buying

Yes. Wallets with at least 100 BTC rose to 20,229 – an 11.2% increase in one year. Large holders accumulated through the entire volatility.

What will be the value of Bitcoin in 2030

Projections vary wildly depending on the model used; however, global investment firm ARK Invest maintains a highly optimistic long-term outlook, with its 2030 price targets ranging from roughly $300,000 in a bearish scenario to a bullish case of around $1.5 million.
While some analysts and prediction markets have more conservative estimates, ARK’s model is based on the premise that spot ETFs and corporate treasuries will continue to absorb a significant portion of the available supply.

Why is Bitcoin dropping

Bitcoin’s price has fallen below key support levels due to a confluence of negative catalysts. Rising U.S. Treasury yields and a $1 billion weekly outflow from spot Bitcoin ETFs have signaled a deterioration in institutional risk appetite, directly ending a six-week streak of inflows.
Simultaneously, escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and persistent inflation fears have triggered a broad risk-off sentiment across global markets, forcing a massive unwind of leveraged long positions.