Bitcoin’s explosive bull run appears to be coming to an end, with the market likely to enter a period of bearish or sideways price movement over the next several months, according to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju.
In a recent post, Ju predicted that Bitcoin will experience limited upward momentum for the next six to 12 months. To support his analysis, he shared a historical chart of Bitcoin’s profit and loss index cyclical signals, spanning from 2014 to 2024.
At press time, Bitcoin has dropped 0.8% in the past 24 hours, trading at $82,752, according to crypto.news. The broader trend over the past month shows a 15% decline, reinforcing concerns about the potential end of Bitcoin’s bullish cycle.
Whales Dumping Bitcoin Amid Market Uncertainty
Adding to the bearish outlook, large Bitcoin holders—or whales—have been offloading significant amounts of BTC. In a separate post, Ju applied the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method to key on-chain metrics, including the Market Value to Realized Value Ratio (MVRV), Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR), and Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL). His findings suggest that every major on-chain indicator is now signaling a bear market.
“Every on-chain metric signals a bear market. With fresh liquidity drying up, new whales are selling Bitcoin at lower prices,” Ju wrote.
#Bitcoin bull cycle is over, expecting 6–12 months of bearish or sideways price action. pic.twitter.com/f80bnNhjy4
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) March 17, 2025
Not long after Ju shared his analysis, an on-chain whale was detected closing a Bitcoin short position, pocketing a $4.06 million profit in just three days. This particular trader had made headlines earlier for opening a 50x leveraged Ethereum long position worth $200 million on Hyperliquid, a move that resulted in the platform suffering a $4 million loss.
High-Leverage Trades Shake the Market
According to SpotOnChain, the same whale deposited $17.82 million USDC into Hyperliquid over the past three days to short Bitcoin with 40x leverage. After closing all positions, the trader withdrew $21.88 million USDC—netting a substantial profit.
After exiting the Bitcoin short, the whale immediately spent 6.11 million USDC to purchase 3,202 ETH and exchanged 3.28 million USDC for 1,040 PAXG (tokenized gold) tokens, signaling a potential shift in strategy.
Market volatility has been further amplified by the surge of high-stakes leveraged trades. On March 17, another anonymous whale attempted a massive $450 million Bitcoin short at 40x leverage, only to be hunted down by crypto traders, sparking widespread discussion in the community.
With Bitcoin’s bull cycle cooling off and major players making aggressive, high-risk moves, the next few months could prove critical for traders navigating the market’s uncertain direction.
