There are plenty of odd terms that you’ll need to learn when you first get started in the trading landscape. From mutual funds to bear markets, there’s a whole language to learn before you can count yourself as a professional. One of the phrases you’re likely to hear more often in the world of cryptocurrency and bitcoin is whale.
This is the name that people use to refer to the largest holders of alt and bitcoins in the current marketplace. Whenever one of these big holders moves their funds, people expect the price of the currency to change thanks to the waves in the movement. Currently, there are about 39 whales that hold just over 11% of all the Bitcoin in the market. The term whale actually comes from meanstream financial markets, where it’s also used to mean traders with large enough holdings who are able influence prices.
What Do Whales Mean to Your Portfolio?
The relatively small size of the cryptocurrency landscape at this stage means that a whale investor can usually move their assets pretty easily. This is especially true among smaller alternative coins to bitcoin. However, for those still learning cryptocurrency trading for beginners, it can be difficult to determine what kind of influence a whale might have on a space. Although the unique blockchain of bitcoin offers some transparency to the public, most of the whales in the current landscape are unidentified thanks to the semi-anonymous style of the coin.
Some of those whales might be original investors who got in on the market in the early days, while many of them also belong to the cold wallet addresses of some crypto exchanges. Using the whale image, it’s best to think of the altcoin and bitcoin market as an ocean. Small fish won’t have a huge influence on the way that the current moves. If they want to survive, they need to swim in the same direction that the ocean is pushing them in. A whale, on the other hand, making a massive movement will quickly wipe out smaller fish, and can completely change the tide of a landscape.
Paying Attention
The unfortunate truth for those who are thinking of investing in this landscape, is that there’s not much to be done about the presence of major whales in the marketplace. We don’t know who all of these individuals are, and even if we did, it would be difficult to predict their movements. Another point to keep in mind is that even if you’re investing majorly in alt-coin, the decisions of a bitcoin trader could rapidly make an impact on your buying and selling strategies too. The best thing you can do to ensure that you’re properly prepared for this landscape is make sure that you’re aware of what’s going on around you. Pay attention to what happens when new whales move in and out of the market and read up on all the information you can get about your industry. The more informed you are, the better.
