Will Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Miners Drop Price to $200?

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price briefly reclaimed the $250 on Tuesday before the bears forced an 8% retracement toward the $230 range. On-chain data examines how the BCH miners’ recent trading activity has impacted prices. 

Bitcoin Cash whales capitalized on the bullish sentiment surrounding the altcoin markets to drive BCH up the charts in late September. On-chain analysis highlights what the BCH miners are doing behind the scenes. 

Bitcoin Cash Miners Have Sold 250,000 Coins This Week 

Bitcoin Cash price raced up the charts in late September, hitting a 30-day peak of $250 on October 2 courtesy of intense whale demand. But behind the scenes, BCH Miners have capitalized on the bull rally to book profits worth millions. 

On-chain data shows that the miners’ cumulative reserve balances stood at 6.5 million BCH as of September 29. But that figure has dropped to just 6.25 million BCH as of October 5. 

This implies that the miners offloaded 250,000 BCH coins this week, taking advantage of the Bitcoin Cash price rally.  

Miners Reserves metric tracks the current deposit balances in wallets controlled by recognized large-scale BCH miners and mining pools.

When valued at the current market price of $230, the 250,000 BCH sale means the miners have withdrawn approximately $57.5 million.

This appears to have contributed significantly to the 8% BCH price decline this week. 

Notably, after nearly offloading about 2.7 million BCH over the last three months, the Miners still control 6.25 million coins (about 3% of the total 19.52 million BCH in circulation). Hence, further sell action could influence Bitcoin Cash prices significantly.  

Crypto Whales are Holding For a Possible Bullish Reversal

After double-digit gains in September, the 8% price decline this week has not dampened the BCH whale investors’ positive disposition. Price-savvy whales holding 100,000 to 1 million BCH have been in buy mode since September 21, according to on-chain data readings from Santiment. 

The chart below depicts how the whales increased their balances from 2.41 million BCH on September 21 to 2.56 million BCH on October 2. But despite BCH prices dropping from $250 to $230 in 2 days, the whales have held their balances steady at 2.56 million.  

With Bitcoin Cash currently trading at $230, the balances held by the whales mentioned above are worth $600 million, nearly 14% of the Bitcoin Cash total market cap.

This means that they wield significant influence within the BCH network. Evidently so, BCH’s price gained over 150% when they bought a staggering 420,000 coins between June 19 and July 6, 2023. 

However, it remains to be seen if they will HODL, double down, or diversify their portfolio into lesser-cap altcoins as the bull market matures. 

BCH Price Prediction: The Bearish Miners Could Force a $200 Retest

The on-chain indicators analyzed above establish a close correlation between the BCH price and the whales’ buying pressure. Hence, the bearish miners force a downswing toward $200 unless they resume the accumulation wave. 

The Exchange Order Books chart, which shows the price distribution of current active BCH orders, also confirms this positive outlook. It confirms that those looking to sell BCH have outnumbered the current market demand.  

As seen below, strategic crypto traders have placed orders to buy 40,041 BCH if the price rises drop 5% to hit $220. If they activate those orders, they could potentially avert further downswing significantly.  

But if the miners continue to sell, that support buy-wall could cave and trigger a larger drop toward $200.  

Conversely, Bitcoin Cash bulls could negate that bearish prediction if the bullish whales return to action. But, as shown above, crypto traders have opened orders to sell 48,890 BCH once the price rises 5% to $242.

This resistance will likely trigger a pullback as bears dominate the BCH spot market orders. 

However, if that Bitcoin Cash resistance level caves, the bulls could increase toward $300 for the first time since June.