Behind BTC's fall below $100,000: panickers fleeing for their lives, smart money lying in ambush.

The market sentiment has been explosive these days—BTC has fallen from 105,000 to 98,000, and the fear index once dropped to 10 (the lowest in nearly 3 months). On-chain data shows that long-term coin holders recently sold 815,000 BTC, reaching a new high since January.

But the story is not just like this.

Institutions are quietly accumulating:

• MicroStrategy bought another 1,442 BTC this month, now holding 641,000 coins, with an unrealized profit of $41 billion and a leverage ratio of only 13% (they are definitely not short on cash).
• The Japanese listed company Metaplanet holds 30,000 BTC, with a weekly net purchase of over 5,000 coins since September.
• El Salvador insists on buying 1 coin every day, with a total holding of 6380 coins.
• In Q3, listed companies net bought 195,000 BTC, with an investment scale of 20.5 billion USD.

Interestingly: In the past six months, retail investors sold 340,000 BTC (38 billion USD), which was almost completely absorbed by the 34 billion USD from spot ETFs and corporate treasuries. Institutions increased their positions from 20% in ETFs to 28%, and the buying structure is quietly improving.

Where are the key support levels? Analysts suggest paying attention to the CME gaps at $92,000 and $88,000. If these two lines hold steady, it is a signal of the “final confirmation” of the bottom.

The core logic is simple: During times of panic, there are always those who flee, and there are always those who lie in wait. The current fall is not a bottomless pit, but rather a layout period for large institutions.