The CEO of CryptoQuant, Ki Young Ju, reported that the bitcoin market is currently undergoing a phase of “mass ownership change,” despite significant interest from institutional investors and ETFs. According to him, the price of bitcoin has returned to levels seen over a year ago, despite a record volume of cryptocurrency purchases, which may indicate increased selling pressure.
This is reported by Business • Media
Record Purchase Volumes and Selling Pressure
The expert provided several important statistical data points. Since the beginning of 2023, Strategy has acquired 711,206 BTC, selling only 32 BTC. Since March 2024, a total of 509,102 BTC has been accumulated in the spot bitcoin ETF market, and Strategy has additionally purchased another 650,706 BTC during this period. Thus, over 1.24 million BTC have been removed from the market, yet the price of the cryptocurrency has remained at the previous level.
“1,240,808 BTC have been absorbed, but the price has returned to the same level,” noted Ju.
According to Ki Young Ju’s estimates, the reserves of cryptocurrency exchanges amount to about 2.7 million BTC, while the bitcoins associated with Satoshi Nakamoto are estimated to be around 1 million BTC.
Institutional Interest and Market Dynamics
Despite significant institutional demand, CryptoQuant experts note that the bitcoin market is currently experiencing strong selling pressure. According to their observations, the share of bitcoin supply at a loss has increased to 40.6%. Since 2015, every major market bottom has formed after testing the long-term downward trend line of this indicator.
Analysts also point out that the market is gradually becoming more mature: more and more coins are transitioning into the hands of long-term investors, ETFs, and institutional players. At the same time, the accumulation indicator has not yet reached levels that historically corresponded to maximum potential for increasing positions.
“Historically, bear markets have only ended after the price fell below the realized value. I thought a return to this level would be unlikely given the influx of funds into ETFs and the fact that Strategy hardly sells its bitcoins. However, the current price dynamics indicate unusually strong selling pressure,” he wrote.
In the second half of May, bitcoin fell out of the top 10 largest global assets by market capitalization, giving way to leading technology companies and precious metals. At the same time, crypto skeptic Peter Schiff suggested that the market is still far from forming a bottom and did not rule out a drop in bitcoin below the $20,000 mark.
At the time of preparing this material, bitcoin is trading at $64,148 according to TradingView.
