A bearwhale is an investor who holds large amounts of a specific cryptocurrency, has a bearish outlook, and plans to sell their extensive holdings. By doing so, they can influence the price action in the particular crypto asset, causing steep declines in its value.
The term combines two words - bear, indicating the pessimistic outlook and intention to sell, and whale, denoting a large cryptocurrency holder. A bearwhale's plan to put massive amounts of the asset for sale in the market can plummet the asset’s price and significantly impact the crypto market at large.
In doing so, the bearwhale investor could be looking at making a profit for themselves, while other investors in the asset could suffer severe losses. The term's origin can be traced back to 2014 when a trader called BearWhale tried to sell all his Bitcoin holdings, amounting to 30,000 BTC, in one go.
BTC was trading at around $300, which would have netted the trader a profit of $9 million. However, the massive sell order drove high volatility in the Bitcoin markets globally until a temporary wall stabilized the price at $300 for several hours until the sell order was completed.