Bitcoin‘s (CRYPTO: BTC) strong performance in the past year can be credited to a surge in spot trading volume and exchange activity.
What Happened: A new report by on-chain analytics firm Glassnode discusses how daily spot trade volumes peaked at around $14.1 billion in mid-March. That was when the market reached an all-time high of $73,000.
This magnitude of spot trade volume is comparable to the 2020-2021 bull market. However, volumes have cooled down recently to around $7 billion per day.
Technical analysis shows that, similar to the 2021 bull run, strong demand in spot markets is driving price appreciation.
As the market reaches new highs, investors tend to take profits, leading to an increase in realized profit.
Analysis shows that during the recent rally, the weekly sum of realized profit normalized by market cap peaked at 1.8%, indicating a significant amount of profit-taking but lower than the 3.0% seen during the January 2021 rally.
The current euphoria phase is still relatively young compared to previous cycles, as there have been only two corrections exceeding 10% since the all-time high was broken. Previous cycles saw numerous deeper corrections of 25% or more.
The influx of new investors, which can be visualized by the rising share of wealth held by coins younger than six months, reached between 84% and 95% in the last bull markets. In the current market, this metric has increased dramatically from 20% on Jan. 1, 2023, to 47% today, suggesting a balance between long-term holders and new demand.
In summary, demand has been strong. With the market now above the 2021 all-time-high, profit-taking has ramped up but is cooling down in recent weeks.
The balance of wealth is approximately balanced between long-term holders and new demand, suggesting the euphoria phase is still relatively early from a historical perspective.
Read Also: Hold On To Your Dogecoin — It'll Be The ‘First Meme Coin To Reach $100B Market Cap
Why It Matters: Bitcoin has been undergoing a period of consolidation after recording its highest monthly close ever in March. This marked the first time ever Bitcoin recorded seven straight monthly closes in the green.
After a strong start to the week, Bitcoin’s push beyond its all-time high came to an abrupt halt on Tuesday when over $200 million worth of positions were liquidated.
Bitcoin miners have told Benzinga they expect rising prices in the 18 months after the Bitcoin halving.
What’s Next: Benzinga’s upcoming Future of Digital Assets conference on Nov. 19 promises to be a valuable platform for in-depth discussions on Bitcoin’s future and the broader cryptocurrency landscape.
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Image created using artificial intelligence with Midjourney.
Read Next: Senator Elizabeth Warren Says Regulating Stablecoins ‘Could Amplify Risks'
ENTER TO WIN $500 IN STOCK OR CRYPTO
Enter your email and you'll also get Benzinga's ultimate morning update AND a free $30 gift card and more!