Recent market data suggesting aggressive Bitcoin accumulation by large investors appears to be a misinterpretation of internal exchange housekeeping. On January 2, Julio Moreno, head of research at analytics firm CryptoQuant, reported that on-chain signals initially interpreted as “whale” buying were mainly due to exchange-related activity. Bitcoin Whales Cut Holdings as Capital Flows Turn Negative He explained that the apparent accumulation was driven mainly by cryptocurrency exchanges consolidating their assets. Exchanges frequently reorganize their digital vaults, moving funds from multiple smaller deposit addresses into fewer, larger cold storage wallets
source: https://beincrypto.com/bitcoin-whales-buying-or-selling-confusion/