Bitcoin Drops Below $117K After Whale Moves 17K BTC

Why Is Bitcoin Down Today?
Crypto markets took a sharp hit as a Satoshi-era whale moved 17,000 BTC to Galaxy Digital, sparking fears of a massive sell-off. The news caused Bitcoin’s price to plunge from $123K to $116K, wiping out over $400 million in long positions in just a few hours.

According to on-chain data, 9,000 BTC were initially moved, followed by another 7,843 BTC, with Galaxy reportedly distributing hundreds of millions to major exchanges like Binance and Bybit. This activity fueled panic that more of the whale’s 80K+ BTC stash could soon hit the market.

The market-wide crash impacted altcoins too: Ethereum dropped by 1.4%, while XRP and Solana declined nearly 2% each. Overall, the total crypto market cap fell more than 3.2% in the sharpest daily drop in weeks.

Analysts now believe we might be seeing a local top, especially with the timing of upcoming macro triggers like U.S. CPI data, Trump’s new tariffs, and key crypto legislation in Congress this week.

Conclusion: The drop in Bitcoin is driven by whale activity, large-scale liquidations, and a fragile macro backdrop. The next few days will be critical to determine if this is a brief correction or the start of a larger decline.