Bitcoin, the largest crypto asset, is currently at a standstill from the viewpoint of many investors considering current market factors. The crypto mostly traded between $41,000 and $45,500 last week after recovering from a brief dip below $40,000 on January 23.
Although the price action has been underwhelming, on-chain data indicates that large holders have been adding more to their wallets, bringing the total number of wallets to the highest it has been in 15 months. At the same time, the holding pattern indicates smaller whales have been adding to their holdings to join the next tier of holders.
Large Holders Accumulating
It would seem Bitcoin holders have been making moves to push the cryptocurrency up, as indicated by the increasing number of whale wallets. According to on-chain analytics platform Santiment, the number of Bitcoin addresses holding between 1,000-10,000 BTC, saw an increase of 47 more wallets representing a 2.5% growth, in six days. Consequently, the number of addresses in this tier reached 1,958 on February 1st, its highest point since November 2022.
🐳 is ranging between $41K and $44K, but whale wallets are moving big this week:🔴 Number of 1K-10K Wallets: 1,958 on Feb. 1st (Most since November, 2022)
— Santiment (@santimentfeed)
🟡 Number of 100-1K Wallets: 13,735 on Feb. 1st (Least since November, 2022)
Furthermore, Santiment data showed the decline of wallet addresses in the tier below. That is, those holding between 100 and 1,000 BTC. The number of wallets in this range dropped by 154 addresses within the same time period, representing a 1.1% decrease. Consequently, the number of addresses in this tier fell to 13,735 on February 1st, its lowest point since November 2022.
What Does This Say About Bitcoin?
The accumulation by a vast number of large holders points to continued faith in the crypto despite the current consolidation, but whale accumulation is only one of many market factors that influence the crypto’s price. Bitcoin’s price trajectory might look unclear at the moment, but the macro outlook points to a positive movement on the fundamental side of things. One of these is the into Bitcoin spot ETFs in the past 14 days.
According to crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe, Bitcoin’s current consolidation could continue in the coming months before the next halving. The analyst noted a resistance at $48,000, to $50,000, and another correction towards $36,000 to $38,000.
My general theory is that is consolidating in the coming months. Pre-Halving a final run towards resistance at $48-50K, after that another correction to $36-38K and from there to continue outperforming Bitcoin. — Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL)
In a different perspective, Justin Bennett, another popular crypto analyst on social media, predicted a bearish Bitcoin in the near future. According to him, Tether’s dominance chart suggests a further BTC decline to around $30,000. This price range coincides with absolute Bitcoin price floor of $31,000.
Bitcoin 200 week moving average is 31k. When bitcoin price diverges from 200WMA, in accumulation (blue) and bull markets (orange/red), bitcoin has never gone below 200WMA. So 31k might be the absolute floor, and bitcoin might never see 31k ever again IMO. Also 200WMA is rising… — PlanB (@100trillionUSD)
Bitcoin is trading at $42,909 at the time of writing.
Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from TradingView