- Institutional interest in Bitcoin has remained unchanged even as retail sales have continued.
- Bitcoin whales have continued to accumulate steadily despite price declines below the $60,000 support.
Bitcoin [BTC] was followed for the third day in a row on July 4, pressing a huge red candle on the BTC/USDT daily chart as it fell sharply to $58,000.
This decline saw Bitcoin hit a nine-week low for the first time since October, losing its position above the 200-day simple moving average (SMA).
Source: TradingView
The latest downside is attributed to a lack of clear direction in spot markets, hawkish comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, and steady pressure on the sales side that arise from various factors.
German government sells BTC
Continued Bitcoin sale by the German government has led to more pressure on the market on the supply side.
According to the analytics platform Arkham Intelligence, the German government transferred 1,500 BTC on July 1.
The wallet moved another 832.7 BTC in four individual transactions on July 2, followed by 3,000 BTC moved on July 4.
Large holders still take in more coins
Interestingly, deep-pocketed investors have been buying more and more crypto coins, undeterred by the volatile price swings in the market.
Market information platform Santiment noticed earlier this week, wallets holding at least 10 coins had added 1.07% to their collective supply over the past six months, reaching an all-time high of 16.17 million BTC.
Changes in the portfolios of large USDT and USDC holders support the activity of these large BTC holders.
Wallets holding between 100,000 and 1 million USDT account for 30.3% of the total Tether supply, while wallets holding 100,000 and 1 million USDC hold 34.2% of the USD coin supply.
Santiment noted that these numbers represent a decline of 5.37% and 1.99%, respectively, compared to half a dozen months ago.
Bitcoin whales have been particularly active in accumulating during dips below $60,000.
According to IntoTheBlock facts, major Bitcoin whales that control more than 0.1% of the Bitcoin supply have recorded a positive flow of more than 55,000 BTC in the last 30 days.
Institutional importance
Even as Bitcoin has shown signs of weakness, publicly traded companies have continued to acquire more of these assets.
Data from BitcoinTreasuries.net showed that listed companies around the world held a cumulative 321,802 BTC as of July 4, led by MicroStrategywho owned 226,331 BTC.
This week, Japan-based Metaplanet announced the addition of 20.2 BTC to his treasury holdings.
The investment firm has made Bitcoin purchases in the past three months: on April 23, May 10 and June 10. The latest purchase marks the company’s fourth purchase, bringing its total holdings to 161.27 BTC.
El Salvador has similarly continued its habit of buying 1 BTC every day. In March, President Nayib Bukele transferred much of the country’s BTC holdings to a cold wallet stored in a physical vault.
BitInfoCharts data shows this wallet at the time of writing, owned 5,600 BTC, worth over $400 million.
Bitcoin price action
The retest of the critical support MA underlined for the first time in 10 months market fears of a bicycle top. Alternative.me’s crypto Fear and Greed Index tracker has dropped nine points since July 1 to 44 at the time of writing.
Source: Alternative.me
BTC changed hands to $57,580, down 16.51% in the past 30 days and nearly 22% from an all-time high of over $73,700 in March.
Read Bitcoin’s [BTC] Price forecast 2024-25
Zooming in, the YTD chart showed that further sell-off below current prices could lead to a 12% decline towards $51.5k, where it consolidated in February.
Source: TradingView
A potential breakout will only be possible if the BTC price can rise after the downward trend that has continued since mid-June.