- A Whale recently transferred more than $1 billion worth of BTC to Coinbase, a move that highlights increased institutional demand for the asset
- Bitcoin could see a slight retracement before resuming its upward trajectory in the coming days
Bitcoin has crossed the psychological threshold of $100,000 for the fifth time, with a gain of 3.39% in the past 24 hours. This follows a week of buyer accumulation, with a total increase of 7.93% on the weekly charts.
The cryptocurrency’s price could soon rise further as rising institutional demand and whale activity appear to be aligning.
The massive whaling movement corresponds to US institutional demand
There has been a significant increase in whale activity over the past 24 hours – addresses that hold large amounts of assets. Notably, a whale that owned about $2.7 billion in BTC moved about $1.05 billion to Coinbase Prime.
Source:
This whale accumulated most of its BTC between September 9 and 11, 2024, when the price was between $54,000 and $56,000. This was just months before the cryptocurrency crossed the $100,000 threshold.
In most scenarios, large asset transfers from private wallets to exchanges are considered bearish as they often indicate selling plans. However, in this case, the move likely underlines the strong demand for BTC as evidenced by its recent price trajectory.
According to CryptoQuant, when there is significant inflow into Coinbase Prime Brokerage, it is often a signal of increased demand for the asset among institutional investors.
Crypto analyst Ki Young Ju commented,
“The preferred Bitcoin purchasing channel for US institutions suggests multiple over-the-counter (OTC) transactions are currently underway.”
OTC transactions involve private transactions between buyers and sellers, bypassing public exchanges to avoid slippage or significant market impact.
Source: CryptoQuant
As you can see from the chart above, inflows into Coinbase Prime have increased significantly over the past week, reaching levels last seen in December 2024 – just before BTC rebounded to its all-time high of $108,135 on December 17. If this trend continues, Bitcoin could reach a new all-time high in the coming weeks.
While market sentiment remains bullish, a short-term pullback is possible before BTC resumes its upward trajectory.
Local top, slight decline
According to Hyblock Capital, there is a 15% demand imbalance on BTC. This implies that the asset has likely reached a local top, with an increase in sell orders as well.
Source: HyblockCapital
Historically, this pattern has occurred seven times, as shown in the chart. In any case, Bitcoin saw a slight return to the downside before resuming an upward move.
If history repeats itself, BTC could see a small pullback before continuing its upward trajectory and possibly hitting a new all-time high.