Bitfinex traders double down on bitcoin during five-day slide as longs hit 2.5-year high

Bitcoin has now declined for five consecutive trading days between May 15 and May 19, marking its second longest losing streak of the year and trying to put in its first daily green candle in six days.

The latest pullback has seen bitcoin slide from above $80,000 to roughly $76,000 in light of broader market weakness.

During the downturn, leveraged traders on Bitfinex continue to add exposure. Data from the TradingView shows bitcoin margin longs, positions opened using borrowed funds, have risen to 80,636 $BTC, up roughly 1.5% over the past several days and now sitting at their highest level in two and a half years. The last time longs were this elevated was in December 2023, when bitcoin traded near $43,000.

According to TradingView data, Bitfinex margin longs have climbed around 10% since the start of the year, even as bitcoin itself has fallen 13%. The divergence underscores continued accumulation from large traders despite $BTC remaining nearly 35% below its October all-time high of $126,000.

Historically, the so-called “Bitfinex whale” has often acted as a contrarian signal. Over the past five years, large leveraged long positions on the exchange have frequently expanded during periods of market weakness and capitulation, while being reduced closer to local market tops and trend reversals.

Bitcoin is now approaching a key technical zone. The asset is currently testing both the True Market Mean, an onchain valuation metric representing the market’s aggregate cost basis, and the short-term holder realized price, which tracks the average acquisition price of recent buyers over the past 155 days, near $78,000, just above the current spot price. Above that, the 200-day moving average sits just over $81,000, representing another major resistance level for bulls to reclaim.