Bitcoin’s acting a bit too familiar lately. If you squint, you’ll see the same patterns from 2021 starting to creep back in price holding steady, momentum cooling off, and those on-chain signals quietly flashing warnings. The big wallets whales and sharks, the folks sitting on huge piles of Bitcoin are slowly backing away. Glassnode’s latest data spells it out: these early adopters and deep-pocketed investors aren’t piling in anymore. They’re not dumping everything, but they’re definitely moving from grabbing more to playing defense.

Honestly, this feels like déjà vu. In 2021, Bitcoin just hovered near its highs for a while. Big holders trimmed their stacks, regular traders stayed hopeful, prices held up until suddenly, things got thin and the wild swings came back. That mood’s hanging in the air again. The price looks solid, but under the surface, conviction’s starting to fade.

This isn’t a screaming sell signal, though. Looking back, whenever whales started distributing, it usually meant the wild rally was cooling off and we were headed for a long, choppy sideways grind not an instant crash. The market just lost some steam unless something new showed up to stoke demand.

What’s different now? Timing. There’s a lot swirling around macro drama, shifting interest rates, ETFs getting picky. Bitcoin needs a new spark, because the old guard is quietly stepping aside.

So, no, this isn’t history on repeat, but the rhyme is close enough that everyone’s watching. The next big move? It all hangs on whether fresh buyers show up, or if we really are just replaying 2021 all over again.