What is a Cryptocurrency Whale: Market Structure Transformation Due to Institutional Investor Entry

What is a cryptocurrency whale? It refers to an investor who holds a large amount of assets in the trading market, and whose buying and selling activities have a significant impact on the overall market. In recent years, this concept has undergone a major change. According to market experts like Garrett Jin, the cryptocurrency market is structurally shifting from a “high-volatility market led by individual investors” to a “stable market led by institutional investors.”

What is a whale, and its position in the cryptocurrency market

The term “whale” in the crypto asset market means “large-scale investor.” Traditionally, cryptocurrency whales often referred to wealthy individual investors or fund managers. However, recently, this definition has expanded. Institutional investors, especially ETF management companies related to Bitcoin and Ethereum, are becoming new whales.

These new whales exhibit different behavior patterns from traditional individual investor whales. Instead of pursuing short-term profits, they aim to build long-term positions, and the nature of their influence on the market has changed.

Entry of institutional investors is fundamentally transforming the cryptocurrency market

From late 2025 to early 2026, the inflow of funds from institutional investors has accelerated. In particular, investments in Bitcoin and Ethereum through ETFs have surged, directly impacting market volatility.

What institutional investors bring is a market shift from “speculation-driven” to “allocation-driven.” This is not just an increase in capital but a fundamental change in the decision-making patterns of market participants. Emotional buying and selling by individual investors are decreasing, while planned position-building by institutional investors is becoming mainstream.

Decreased volatility and strengthening of mainstream assets’ dominance

One of the key signals shown by market data is that the overall volatility of cryptocurrencies has significantly decreased. This indicates that the price foundation has become more robust due to large-scale purchases by ETFs and government digital asset treasuries.

At the same time, the market dominance of mainstream assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) is strengthening. Following last October’s market correction, structural gaps with smaller assets like MONTA have widened. This reflects that institutional investors are prioritizing risk management and selecting assets with high liquidity and reliability.

Not the “end of a bull market,” but a transition to market maturity

It is important to correct a common misconception. Market analysts, including Garrett Jin, see the current changes not as the “end of a bull market,” but rather as “market maturation.”

The phase of “individual investor-led, high volatility, MONTA dominance” has indeed come to an end. However, this does not mean that the cryptocurrency rally has ended. Instead, the market is systematically shifting from speculation to allocation, from sentiment-driven to strategy-driven, and from extreme volatility to appropriate volatility at the institutional investor level.

Looking at history, in markets like China’s A-shares and U.S. stocks, the entry of institutional investors led to market maturation and the formation of more stable, trend-driven structures. The same path is being followed in the cryptocurrency market, where the character of whales is shifting from individual to institutional, and the entire market is evolving into a new stage.