A Whale Liquidated a $18.3 Million Bitcoin Short Position to Break Even and Exited the Position, Withdrawing a Significant Amount of Funds

Jan. 23 — Sharia Portfolio, which manages $2 billion in assets under management (AUM), has disclosed purchasing 43,833 shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR) stock valued at $7 million. The firm now holds a total of 150,325 MSTR shares.

January 23 — Per Cointelegraph, a number of analysts are predicting 2026 could bring a bear market for Bitcoin, with multiple forecasts suggesting BTC may retrace to roughly $58,000. Crypto analyst Titan recently noted Bitcoin “just sent a bear market signal” tied to a bearish crossover on its two-month MACD, adding historical data shows similar technical patterns typically trigger a 50%–64% retracement. The latest sell-off has pushed BTC down ~9% from its 2026 high of $97,930, dropping below key support levels including the current 75% quantile cost basis at $92,940. Glassnode said Thursday that Bitcoin “has now fallen below the cost basis for 75% of its supply, signaling rising distribution (selling) pressure,” and added: “Risk has clearly shifted to the upside, and downside risk remains dominant until this level is reclaimed.” Trader Merlijn The Trader analyzed Bitcoin’s price “has returned to uptrend line support,” with the zone ranging from $89,000 to $90,000. He noted that

Jan. 23 — Polymarket odds indicate a 32% chance Bitcoin will drop to $85,000 in January, along with a 7% probability of falling to $80,000 and just 6% for a rise to $100,000.

On January 23, on-chain analyst Ai Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa) reported that over the past 5 hours, the address 0x8ec…F2626 has redeemed 6,300 ETH from Renzo and transferred it to Coinbase. The transaction is valued at $18.63 million, with market watchers suspecting the ETH may be sold.

January 23rd Data from Validator Queue, a tracking site for Ethereum validator queues, shows the amount of ETH waiting to enter the PoS network has risen steadily since December 26, 2025. It now stands at 3,068,886 ETH—its highest level since July 2023—valued at roughly $8.98 billion, with an estimated activation delay of around 53 days and 7 hours. This signals strong, sustained staking demand, largely driven by Ethereum treasury firms and institutions (including BitMine) staking significant amounts of their held ETH. On-chain data indicates BitMine has staked a total of 1,943,200 ETH to date, worth approximately $5.69 billion. Meanwhile, the Ethereum PoS network’s unstaking queue has been cleared: there are currently no major users opting to unstake ETH, meaning stakers can now withdraw their ETH almost instantly.

As of January 23, DefiLlama data shows trading volumes across major perpetual futures DEXes (Perp DEXes) dropped broadly over the past 24 hours. Hyperliquid led the pack with ~$6.23B in 24-hour volume—down ~30% from the prior day—while Aster also saw a ~30% decline, claiming the second spot. Key metrics for select Perp DEXes: - Hyperliquid: 24h volume = ~$6.23B; TVL = ~$44.8B; Open Interest = ~$8.34B | [Link](https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/join/NTOD) - Aster: 24h volume = ~$4.06B; TVL = ~$1.22B; Open Interest = ~$2.50B | [Link](https://www.asterdex.com/en-US/referral/aboter) - Lighter: 24h volume = ~$3.75B; TVL = ~$1.02B; Open Interest = ~$1.24B | [Link](https://app.lighter.xyz/?referral=70045843) - EdgeX: 24h volume = ~$2.90B; TVL = ~$425M; Open Interest = ~$1.08B - Grvt: 24h volume = ~$1.85B; TVL = ~$96.5M; Open Interest = ~$511M - Pacifica: 24h volume = ~$836M; TVL = ~$42.79M; Open Interest = ~$78.99M | [Link](https://app.pacifica.fi/?referral=pacbot)