Bitcoin’s price plunged below $90,000 immediately after US President Donald Trump announced his planned 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico. During periods of high volatility, investors tend to liquidate crypto assets first to cut down on their overall financial risk.

Amidst increasing concerns of a steeper decline, the latest data depicts a notable shift in Bitcoin whale and shark activity.

Investors Dump Millions in BTC

According to the data shared by Santiment, wallets holding 10 or more BTC have collectively offloaded approximately 6,813 BTC over the past week, representing the largest drop in holdings since July. This also coincided with a 16% decline in Bitcoin’s price, which was observed in the last seven days.

The on-chain platform found a direct correlation between the selling pressure from these large holders and the broader market correction. Historically, accumulation by this group has signaled potential price recoveries, which makes their future buying behavior a key indicator for traders anticipating market rebounds.

Bitcoin continues to trade in line with risk assets, and continued spot BTC ETF outflows, with February 26th recording over $744 million, confirming a “lack of conviction.”

As market sentiment remained strained, experts suggest that Bitcoin is at the risk of revisiting the $70,000 level.

MVRV Data Suggests Otherwise

Despite intense uncertainty in the short term, Assure DeFi CEO and crypto analyst Chapo has reaffirmed his bullish outlook on Bitcoin, citing the Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) Ratio as a key indicator of market cycles.

In his latest tweet, Chapo highlighted the importance of removing emotions and focusing on data when analyzing BTC’s price movements. Currently, Bitcoin’s MVRV sits at 2.09, which indicates that the average BTC holder has more than doubled their investment.

Historically, MVRV spikes sharply at market tops, signaling peak profit-taking levels. Chapo predicted a peak MVRV of 3.2 this cycle, which suggests that 2025 will remain bullish before a potential market top. He advised traders to closely monitor MVRV, as it has been highly accurate in identifying both market tops and optimal buying opportunities in past cycles.

TL;DR

• Cardano’s ADA dropped by double digits in a week, with whales offloading over 170 million tokens, potentially signaling more downward pressure.

• Hopes for a rebound rest on the potential approval of a spot ADA ETF filed by Grayscale, which could attract traditional investors and boost demand.

More Pain Ahead?

Cardano’s ADA was trading well above $0.80 towards the end of last week. However, the start of the new business week offered a lot of pain for the bulls, with the asset plunging to as low as $0.63 (per CoinGecko’s data). ADA slightly rebounded over the past several hours to the current $0.67. Still, this represents a 15% decline on a seven-day scale.

According to some factors, the negative trend could be far from over. The popular analyst, going on X as Ali Martinez, estimated that whales dumped more than 170 million ADA in the span of 96 hours. The stash equals almost $115 million (going at current rates).

Continued efforts of that type would create an influx of tokens on the open market, potentially overwhelming demand and having a negative effect on the price. Additionally, the whales’ actions are closely monitored by some smaller players who could follow suit and intensify the selling spree. 

Earlier this month, Martinez maintained that ADA’s most critical support stands between $0.67 and $0.70. “As long as this level holds, the bull run remains intact,” he claimed at the time. As mentioned above, though, the valuation briefly tanked below the depicted level. 

The Potential Price Catalyst

While the overall environment looks quite grim, one important factor might bring back the green candles. This is the possible launch of a spot ADA exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States, whose chances of approval before the end of 2025 have risen to 67% lately.

The improved odds result from the SEC’s acknowledgment of Grayscale’s application to introduce such an investment vehicle. 

The product will allow investors to gain exposure to ADA without needing to directly purchase, store, or manage the cryptocurrency. This simplifies the process, especially for traditional investors unfamiliar with crypto wallets and exchanges.

Additionally, the world’s largest digital asset manager – Grayscale – operates under regulatory frameworks, providing a layer of security and transparency. That might be particularly attractive to risk-averse investors who might be hesitant to enter the volatile crypto market. 

SHELL, the native token of AI consumer layer MyShell, has surged almost 34% in the last 24 hours, reaching an all-time high (ATH) of $0.6816.

The uptick, which comes against the backdrop of a broader crypto market slump, looks to have been fueled by excitement over the token’s upcoming listing on Binance.

Binance Listing Fuels SHELL’s Rally

Earlier today, the exchange officially unveiled MyShell as its tenth project on the Binance Airdrop Portal. The token was distributed to users who subscribed their BNB to the exchange’s Simple Earn Flexible or Locked products between February 14 and February 18.

The crypto company also announced that it would be listing SHELL from 13:00 UTC, opening trading for it across multiple pairs, including SHELL/BTC, SHELL/USDT, and SHELL/BNB.

This news sparked a frenzy among traders, causing the AI-focused token to add an extra 33.8% to its value and break past its previous highest price. It also became one of the top gainers today, joining the metabolic health-focused Sally A1C (A1C) token, which was up 72.4% at the time of writing.

Daddy Tate (DADDY), CARV (CARV), Renzo (REZ), KAITO (KAITO), and STONKS (STONKS) were also among the best-performing tokens, defying the downward trend gripping major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are struggling with weak spot ETF demand and price corrections.

Interestingly, the increases registered by A1C, STONKS (35.9%), and KAITO (30.1%) have also pushed them into new all-time highs.

Growth and Market Position

MyShell is a decentralized AI ecosystem that allows users to create, own, and share AI agents. Its unique value proposition has attracted a fair bit of investor interest, marked by SHELL’s 24-hour trading volume surpassing $156 million.

Currently, the token is changing hands for $0.6377, which, while 6.8% lower than the new ATH, is still an almost 58% improvement over the previous seven days. This means it has significantly outperformed the broader crypto market, down 11.7%, as well as similar Delphi assets, which have averaged a relatively lower 8.1% increase.

Additionally, SHELL’s market cap stands at $171.4 million, with a fully diluted valuation of $634.8 million, placing it at #324 among the largest capped cryptocurrencies. The token is also among the highest trending, with only KAITO and Berachain (BERA) searched more times than it in the last few hours.