Author

Topic: What makes a whale? (Read 1305 times)

legendary
Activity: 896
Merit: 1000
February 16, 2014, 12:40:57 AM
#16
I tend to agree with most people on the forum in that a whale is someone with 1000+ BTC. But I guess for my own succinct comparison, I prefer to consider whales those with $1M or more in crypto and can frequently make trades to turn a profit. [I think that second point is kinda important since those that turn a profit are the ones who alter the markets more.]
newbie
Activity: 126
Merit: 0
February 15, 2014, 09:34:38 PM
#15
This has always been how I classify whales:
1,000 btc = whale
10,000 btc = megawhale
1% of all btc = hyperwhale

Satoshi = grenadewhale
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1001
This is the land of wolves now & you're not a wolf
February 15, 2014, 09:31:34 PM
#14
does it count if you take home whales after last call at the bars and clubs?   haha
legendary
Activity: 1386
Merit: 1053
Please do not PM me loan requests!
February 15, 2014, 09:05:29 PM
#13
This has always been how I classify whales:
1,000 btc = whale
10,000 btc = megawhale
1% of all btc = hyperwhale
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1001
This is the land of wolves now & you're not a wolf
February 15, 2014, 08:52:20 PM
#12
there are different types of whales

recently there have been alot of killer whales being spotted. the ones with under 200BTC but they use their blubber(size) to scare smaller prey into moving or getting eaten. where as the humpback/blue whales (holding larger weight) usually swim around at a slower pace just enjoying the waters and not really causing too much harm to anything important.

haha this is true...
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
February 15, 2014, 08:02:53 PM
#11
Guess it is all relative, but generally 1000's. Anyone that is able to move / influence the market with just their coins / funds I guess is a whale.
legendary
Activity: 4410
Merit: 4766
February 15, 2014, 07:49:34 PM
#10
there are different types of whales

recently there have been alot of killer whales being spotted. the ones with under 200BTC but they use their blubber(size) to scare smaller prey into moving or getting eaten. where as the humpback/blue whales (holding larger weight) usually swim around at a slower pace just enjoying the waters and not really causing too much harm to anything important.
hero member
Activity: 924
Merit: 1000
February 15, 2014, 07:43:32 PM
#9
The term changes with time.

A few years ago many early adopters bought tens of thousands. Of course they probably sold around $30, so those wallets are rare nowadays. Can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing.

Now a whale could be a few hundred BTC in the crypto market, as they're easier to move. The BTC market is more liquid now so it will absorb huge punches (dumps/buys) without too much movement. A BTC whale would need thousands for sure to ensure the trend continues and take others along with him.

Really it's just a convenient label.
legendary
Activity: 2212
Merit: 1199
February 15, 2014, 07:39:30 PM
#8
it depends on if we are talking about a beluga whale, killer whale, or blue whale...

are there so much whales kind? Smiley

I like to be a blie one. Nice colour.
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1001
This is the land of wolves now & you're not a wolf
February 15, 2014, 06:43:17 PM
#7
it depends on if we are talking about a beluga whale, killer whale, or blue whale...
legendary
Activity: 2212
Merit: 1199
February 15, 2014, 06:38:15 PM
#6
I'm a healthy fish.

But what's in a whale?

Selling just 100 BTC could be life-changing, but it probably wouldn't make a big impact on a daily chart.

So how many BTC must you own to be a whale? Hundreds? Thousands?

Millions Cheesy

Just kidding.

There are many wallets with ballance >4000BTC.
sr. member
Activity: 531
Merit: 260
Vires in Numeris
February 15, 2014, 04:09:20 PM
#5
If one person or a group can control a market's behaviour just with the buy/sell action they take, then they are a whale in that market. It's a matter of how many people there are in the market and the fish's holding relative to the volume that's passing through.

As suggested above there looks to be one holder that's sat on a FTC buy at 0.0004 for 4097764 FTC = 1639 BTC. FTC isn't going to fall below 0.0004 for a while until that's removed by them.

With a small coin you can shift the market buying lite selling but in BTC, you'd need 500BTC+ to trigger a reaction at the right moment; in a smaller coin, you would be the market. If you moved a few thousand BTC as one in BTC markets, now you might move a single exchange but then BTC is growing beyond any few people's ability to affect it.. MtGox CEO aside of course. Bring on distributed exchanges and peer 2 peer and perhaps that won't be a liability in the future. As always we need more exchanges and more people holding BTC, so that their are no beasts.
member
Activity: 70
Merit: 10
February 14, 2014, 07:27:02 PM
#4
Yeah I'm just ranting..  Smiley
sr. member
Activity: 266
Merit: 250
February 14, 2014, 07:18:11 PM
#3
Whales, bears, bulls, fiat, bag holders.... these terms are ridiculous. Are people into investing or National Geographic?

And when's the last time anyone said, "excuse me honey, I've got to run out to the car to get my fiat."

Fucking hell, the amount of idiotic overuse of these terms on BTC-E is enough to make your head explode.



Context.

Bitcoin is a different type of currency, so people use fiat to easily differentiate.

A punter in American Football is very different from a punter in Grand Theft Auto...

To the original point - how many BTC must a whale own?
legendary
Activity: 1789
Merit: 1008
Keep it dense, yeah?
February 14, 2014, 06:57:13 PM
#2
Depends on perspective, in trollbox I believe that a whale is identified as somebody (or bot) with a significant proportion of coins - usually enough to influence other traders.

To a small fish (most people), a whale might be somebody with 100 BTC, but ultimately we're talking thousands.

There's a whale who is bossing the Feathercoin market on BTC-E at the moment. He has got it locked down with his vast amounts of coins.
sr. member
Activity: 266
Merit: 250
February 14, 2014, 06:51:03 PM
#1
I'm a healthy fish.

But what's in a whale?

Selling just 100 BTC could be life-changing, but it probably wouldn't make a big impact on a daily chart.

So how many BTC must you own to be a whale? Hundreds? Thousands?
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