Analysis: During the Bitcoin bear market phase, whales dominate CEX deposits, and stablecoin inflows sharply decline.

On February 22, in the current bear market environment, inflows into Bitcoin trading platforms are being dominated by large holders. Data shows that the whale ratio on trading platforms has risen to 0.64, the highest level since October 2015, indicating that 64% of Bitcoin inflows on trading platforms come from the top ten deposit addresses, suggesting that large investors are leading the selling activity. Meanwhile, the average size of single Bitcoin inflows to trading platforms in February has increased to 1.58 BTC, the highest level since mid-2022 during the last bear market. However, after Bitcoin retraced to around $60,000 earlier this month, total platform inflows on February 6 surged to approximately 60,000 BTC (the highest since November 2024), before falling back to an average of about 23,000 BTC over the next seven days, a decrease of about 60% from the peak. This indicates that panic selling has eased somewhat, but overall inflow levels remain higher than in previous months.

In altcoins, selling pressure is also evident. Since 2026, the daily number of altcoin deposits on trading platforms has averaged about 49,000, a 22% increase from roughly 40,000 in Q4 2025. CryptoQuant notes that high levels of altcoin deposits often signal increased volatility and reflect weak market confidence in non-Bitcoin assets. Additionally, stablecoin inflows have significantly declined. The daily net inflow of Tether (USDT) into trading platforms has dropped from a peak of $616 million in November 2025 to recent levels of around $27 million, with multiple instances of net outflows during this period, including a single-day net outflow of $469 million on January 25, 2026. The organization suggests that the reduction in stablecoin inflows indicates a decline in marginal buying “ammo.”

Overall, CryptoQuant believes the current market structure features concentrated Bitcoin selling pressure from whale addresses, widespread distribution of altcoins, and shrinking stablecoin liquidity. These characteristics suggest that during this prolonged bear market, market demand buffers are limited, and prices face further volatility risks.