Bitcoin price has cooled after surging to $71,000 last week on the back of Ethereum ETF approval news. Not long after the price peak, the leading cryptocurrency witnessed a correction to $67,000 and appears to be back in a consolidation range.
Interestingly enough, Bitcoin whales seem to be waking up from their slumber as they have loaded their coffers with significant amounts of BTC in recent days. This begs the question: Can the appetite of the returning whales push Bitcoin to a new record high price?
Is a return to all-time highs imminent?
A pseudonymous analyst shared in a CryptoQuant Quicktake post that Bitcoin whales show a greater desire to buy and become active on the market again. The relevant indicators here are total whale ownership and a moving average that tracks a percentage change in the balance over 30 days.
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Whales are entities (individuals or organizations) that own significant amounts of cryptocurrency (in this case, typically at least 1,000 BTC). Due to the size of their holdings, whales are often able to influence price movements and market dynamics through their activities.
In the Quicktake post, the on-chain analyst noted a recent increase in the monthly percentage change in whale address ownership and a steady increase in the total whale balance. The pseudonymous expert said:
Whales’ interest in buying Bitcoin has returned sharply, after a two-month decline in buying interest since March.
The chart above shows that Bitcoin whales increased their holdings by over 11% in March as the BTC price hit a new all-time high of $73,737. However, BTC’s accumulation rate remained stable in April, with the 30-day percentage change dropping to around 3% by the end of the month.
Bitcoin accumulation appears to be increasing in May, with the monthly percentage change returning to above 5% as of May 24. The CryptoQuant analyst said in the post:
She [whales] are now coming back with strong purchasing power, indicating that current prices are suitable for purchase and accumulation despite widespread fear.
If BTC whale accumulation returns to March levels, Bitcoin price is more likely to return to its current all-time high and perhaps even surpass it. This projection is even more plausible considering that the leading cryptocurrency hit a new high the last time the whales accumulated BTC at that rate.
Bitcoin price at a glance
At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s price stands at around $69,216, reflecting an increase of just 0.8% in the past 24 hours.
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Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView