The crypto market's fortunes are known only to itself.

Yesterday early morning, another thrilling market movement occurred—Bitcoin quickly rebounded from below $85,000 support to around $87,000. This rapid dip and rebound pattern is driven by major players clearing leveraged positions.

Interestingly, while retail investors panic and flee, a different story is unfolding on the blockchain. Large holders are quietly taking action. A well-known early BTC investor is continuously increasing their ETH holdings, with leveraged long positions exceeding $620 million. Although they are currently showing an unrealized loss of over $20 million, they continue to deploy assets.

Market polarization has become quite evident.

The Fear & Greed Index has been steadily declining—from 29 directly down to 23—returning to the extreme fear zone, a rare low since the 2022 bear market. Retail investors' voices of panic selling are growing louder. Meanwhile, on-chain data shows that whale activity is moving in the opposite direction.

The "7 Siblings" address cluster borrowed $61 million USDC to buy approximately 18,000 ETH. Large institutions that previously profited from shorting are now turning long, pouring $482 million USDC into exchanges to buy ETH. These deep-pocketed players are capitalizing on the market panic window.

Honestly, the game has changed. After the ETF listing, the structure of market participants and pricing logic are being reshaped. On the surface, it appears to be a battle between retail and institutional investors, but the underlying logic is more complex. When the market is in extreme fear, it is often the smart money building positions.