Bitcoin (BTC) upended buy trends through May 10 as BTC/USD sank below $30,000 for the first time since July 2021.
Data from on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant showed exchange reserves start increasing as panic gripped crypto markets.
After seeing a sustained downtrend, the amount of BTC on major exchanges has begun to increase again.
According to CryptoQuant, which tracks the balance of 21 major exchanges, sellers sent a total of 37,537 BTC to accounts from May 6 to May 9 inclusive.
The deposits came as BTC price action fell from $36,000 to $29,700, subsequently recovering to near $32,000 at the time of writing on May 10.
In private comments to Cointelegraph, CryptoQuant head of marketing, Hochan Chung, said that the sell-off did not just involve speculators, but formed the next phase of a more concerted desire to reduce BTC exposure from Bitcoin’s biggest token holders.
“The massive inflow was not starting just yesterday. It has started since May,” he said.
“Bitcoin price declines on whale selling. Since early May, growing exchange reserves have been increasingly dominated by whale deposits. As whales move their coins to exchanges it puts downward pressure to bitcoin price.”
Other sources, as Cointelegraph reported, also noticed changing whale behavior, this nonetheless occurring comfortably above Bitcoin’s realized price of around $24,000.
At the same time, other traders were less fortunate.
Related: ‘Kwontitative easing’ — BTC price hits $43K in UST as Terra empties $2.2B BTC bag
According to figures from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass, Bitcoin’s fall below $30,000 triggered part of crypto market liquidations worth over $1 billion.
The majority of those were long positions coming from altcoins. In the 24 hours to the time of writing, BTC accounted for around $330 million of the liquidations total, with the remainder from altcoin tokens.
In terms of short-term price targets, however, the weekend’s CME futures gap centered on $35,000 was gathering popularity among traders on the day.
“Bitcoin looks like it's on a mission to recover that CME gap,” popular Twitter account IncomeSharks said.
“The people who sold $34,000 to buy back at $37,000 will end up buying back above $40,000. Happens every time at bottoms. Bears getting greedy.”
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
The world’s largest futures exchange, CME, plans to launch Bitcoin trading and has been in discussions with market participants.
Cheng YuanThe Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group will launch Ethereum option contracts on its platform on September 12. The company announced ...
Bitcoinist
The group reported it had observed an increase in trading volume and open interest for ETH futures and micro-sized ETH futures options, possibly in anticipation of the Merge.
CointelegraphThe futures options, expected to start trading on Aug. 29, followed the CME Group launching micro-sized Bitcoin and Ether options in March.
CointelegraphThe trading of Bitcoin and Ether futures on CME remained elevated in the second quarter, with daily open interest hitting all-time highs.
CointelegraphDon't hold your breath for a return to $69,000 this year or next, one commentator says.
CointelegraphTraders ended their long bitcoin derivatives contracts ahead of the October bitcoin price rally, ignoring decent on-chain fundamentals.
CointelegraphThere are forces at work which could take BTC price action back to $44,500 in the short term, analysts reveal.
CointelegraphDuring his time at the CME Group, Bruce Fekrat regulated crypto reference rates and helped in the development of financial products, including BTC and ETH derivatives.
Cointelegraph
