Large Bitcoin (BTC) holders, commonly known as whales, are buying more of the asset after a lull in early January and a bout of profit-taking, crypto quant data shows.
The monthly percentage growth of large investors’ bitcoin holdings has accelerated from -0.25% on January 14 to +2% on January 17, the highest monthly rate since mid-December.
Such growth comes on the back of Donald Trump becoming president of the United States, where traders expect him to introduce pro-Crypto policies and build a strategic reserve of bitcoins, both events that can feed institutional capital into the asset in the future. short term. Key driver of BTC demand and price. Notable recent buyers include Bitcoin development and energy management systems company Development Kulr.
As such, selling pressure for Bitcoin has greatly reduced after making daily gains of up to $10 billion, as the asset approached $100,000 in December. Long-term bitcoin holders, seen as “smart money,” have sold more than 1 million BTC since September, and behavior appears to have bottomed out, as a Coindesk analysis noted on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, unrealized profit margins for traders are now close to zero. In crypto terms, this often acts as a price point during a bull market, suggesting we could be at a stable point before the next move.
However, retail spot demand for bitcoin appears to be cooling, according to cryptoquant.
“The apparent demand for Bitcoin has continued in expansion territory (green area in the chart to the left). However, the expansion rate has decreased from 279K bitcoin in early December 2024 to 75k bitcoin today,” the firm said in its report on Friday.
Apparent demand is an on-chain metric used to measure the balance between Bitcoin’s production (newly minted coins through mining) and changes in its inventory (coins that have been dormant for more than a year).
“Demand growth must accelerate again for prices to come together significantly,” he added.
