Recently, Baillie Gifford's series of operations in the crypto market seem somewhat abnormal—they deposit and withdraw simultaneously, dazzling retail investors. But if you look closely, you'll discover the secret behind how traditional financial giants quietly control the market rhythm.

Last week's news was that Baillie Gifford injected 2,292 Bitcoins (worth about $200 million) and 9,976 Ethereum (about $29.23 million) into a leading compliant platform Prime account. The market exploded at the time, with some shouting "whale run," and others worried that a "bear market is coming." But that's just the surface.

The real story is here: less than a month ago, at the end of November, Baillie Gifford withdrew 3,215 Bitcoins (about $354 million) and 75,892 Ethereum (about $235 million) from the same platform—this was the largest withdrawal since June 2025.

Depositing and withdrawing, seemingly contradictory, are actually carefully planned. What Baillie Gifford is doing is far more complex than simple buying and selling.

This operational pattern reflects the asset allocation logic of institutional-level players. They are not betting on price fluctuations but optimizing their asset distribution across different accounts and trading pairs. Sometimes deposits are made to participate in specific liquidity mechanisms; other times withdrawals are for adjusting risk exposure. For companies managing trillions of dollars in assets, transferring a few hundred million dollars is just a daily move in their strategic game.

This also explains why some retail investors can't keep up with the market rhythm. While you're still debating whether a transfer is positive or negative, these giants have already made their next move based on ETF subscription and redemption data, risk models, and strategies. The issuance of Bitcoin spot ETFs and Ethereum ETFs has provided these giants with legitimate tools in the crypto market, and every step they take is rewriting the rules of market operation.