- Bitcoin was 8% shy of its all-time high.
- The OI on the CME exchange has more than tripled since October 2023.
Bitcoin [BTC] reached the top of $64k during the US evening/early morning hours in Asia before quickly returning to the $63k zone as the prized digital asset quickly rose to its all-time high (ATH) level.
At the time of writing, the stock was trading at $63,612, down 8% from its peak, it said CoinMarketCap.
Institutional interest shows no signs of abating
The ongoing rally, powered by strong institutional interest, has sent Bitcoin 43% higher since the start of 2024.
The Open Interest (OI) in BTC Futures on global derivatives exchange CME rose to a record high of $8.7 billion, AMBCrypto found using Coinglass data.
The stock market’s OI has more than tripled since the rally gained steam in October 2023.
Source: Coinglass
For the curious, CME’s Standard Futures contract is worth five BTCs and is considered a barometer of institutional interest in cryptocurrencies.
At the time of writing, it was the largest Bitcoin futures exchange, accounting for almost 30% of Bitcoin derivatives investments.
Whale stocks are rising
The growing institutional interest was also reflected in the steady increase in whaling.
According to AMBCrypto’s examination of Glassnode’s data, entities holding at least 1K coins are up almost 5% year-to-date (YTD), and more than 7% since October 2023.
Whales generally trade large amounts of assets, thus exerting a significant influence on price movements. The strong buying pressure was clearly a bullish driver for BTC.
Source: Glassnode
Is a correction looming?
The optimism was also seen in the positions whales took on the Bitcoin futures market. According to Hyblock Capital, at the time of writing, whales had higher long exposure than retail investors on the leading exchange Binance.
Read Bitcoin’s [BTC] Price forecast 2024-25
However, the trend indicated that whales have reduced their long-term exposure over the past week. This could be because they expected a sharp correction in the coming days.
Source: Hyblock Capital
In an X (formerly Twitter) after On March 3, technical analyst Ali Martinez emphasized the importance of the $61,100 – $61,800 level as support, saying:
“Like Bitcoin remains above this threshold, it is poised to rise towards $65,900 given the minimum resistance ahead. It should be the other way around BTC dip below support, a correction could lead to a decline to $56,970 or even $51,500.”