- Institutional interest in Bitcoin, combined with strong demand for whales, is behind BTC’s recent uptrend.
- The recent new ATH of Bitcoin hashrate signals the state of activity surrounding the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin [BTC] shows signs of increased activity, especially in the whaling and institutional classes. These two categories probably have the biggest impact on BTC price movements.
Bitcoin has maintained a strong rise over the past six weeks after previously struggling to stay above $60,000. This latest rally was smoother than usual and that was probably due to strong institutional involvement.
The changing sentiment around BTC made it more attractive, as evidenced by the increase in the number of institutions holding the cryptocurrency. Glassnode data recently showed that entities holding more than 1,000 BTC recently rose above the May 2022 level.
Source: Glassnode
The same category of Bitcoin holders previously experienced a significant decline, which leveled off in May last year. This means that they have been accumulating aggressively, but the momentum appears to have slowed between May and August.
Bitcoin whales are surging to new highs
The upward pace appears to be on an upward trend again since September. This also lines up with data on whale activity, which has also increased dramatically.
According to the latest data, Bitcoin whales reportedly owned more than 670,000 BTC, which is the most the whale category has ever owned. CryptoQuant analyst BaroVirtual described the observation as a sign of accumulation before a big move.
Source: CryptoQuant
Bitcoin whale stocks turned in 2023 and continued accumulation recently reached 2021 highs.
One of the most common observations about both institutional and whale activity is that it has grown rapidly over the past two months. Bitcoin-related transactions have thus been higher, requiring more network capacity.
Bitcoin miners have responded to the increase in network activity by boosting their operations. As a result, the Bitcoin hash rate recently rose to an all-time high of 918.72 TH/s.
Source: Coinwarz.com
The network achieved this feat on Monday, October 21 this week. The hash rate ATH suggests that miner profitability has been quite high.
Meanwhile, the impact of the latest surge in BTC demand was clearly visible in the price action. Bitcoin has been moving within a bullish flag pattern since March.
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The latest bullish momentum appeared to have pushed the price above the resistance range, suggesting more potential upside could emerge in the coming months.
Source: TradingView
Whale and institutional accumulation may indicate major steps along the way. However, these observations also implied the possibility that Bitcoin could experience extremely volatile moves in the short to medium term.