Bitcoin whale exchange inflow share hits 1-year high — over 40%

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Bitcoin (BTC) whale buying and selling in 2023 will mostly come from speculative investors, new data reveals.

In the latest edition of its weekly newsletter, The Week On-Chain, analytics firm Glassnode said: show Contrary to popular belief, opportunistic beings are the most active whales.

Birth of the Bitcoin “Short-Term Holder” Whale

Since BTC’s price action returned to $30,000, there has been a shift among Bitcoin traders.

As Glassnode shows, so-called short-term holders (STH), investors who hold coins for up to 155 days, have become significantly more common.

After all, even the largest group of investors, whales, are made up of a number of STHs.

“Short-term holder dominance in total exchange inflows has exploded to 82%, which is now well above the long-term range of the past five years (typically 55% to 65%),” Glassnode said.

“From this, we can establish the case that much of the recent trading activity is being driven by whales (thus classified as STH) operating within the market in 2023.”

Interest in short-term BTC/USD moves was already evident even before May. Since the FTX meltdown in late 2022, speculators have become increasingly keen to capitalize on volatility both upside and downside.

Results were mixed, with periodic spikes in realized gains and losses in response to price fluctuations.

“Looking at the extent of gains and losses realized by the amount of short-term holders flowing into the exchange reveals that these new investors are trading on local market conditions,” Glasnode continued.

“Each rise and correction since the impact of FTX has increased STH profit and loss by more than 10,000 BTC each.”

Whales show ‘rising inflow bias’ to exchanges

Closer to the present day, whale trading activity increased, accounting for 41% of the total influx at one point in July.

Related: Biggest Mining Difficulty Drop of 2023? 5 Things You Need To Know About Bitcoin This Week

“An analysis of whale netflows to exchanges can be used as a proxy for their impact on the supply and demand balance,” comments The Week On-Chain on the topic.

“Over the past five years, net flows from whales to exchanges have tended to fluctuate between ±5,000 BTC per day. However, in June and July of this year, whale inflows maintained an upward inflow bias of between 4.0 and 6.5 thousand BTC per day.”

As Cointelegraph reported, whales are not the only forces at work in Bitcoin sales.

Mining pool Pullin made headlines for trading for Binance, but miners who could hedge their profits also contributed to the sell-side activity.

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