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

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

In the latest edition of its weekly newsletter, “The Week On-Chain,” analytics firm Glassnode shows that contrary to popular belief, opportunistic entities are the most active whales.

The birth of the Bitcoin “short-term holder” whale

Since BTC price action returned to $30,000, a shift has taken place among Bitcoin traders.

As Glassnode shows, so-called short-term holders (STHs) — investors holding coins for a maximum of 155 days — have become significantly more common.

As it turns out, the largest-volume investor cohort, the whales, is also composed of large numbers of STHs.

“Short-Term Holder Dominance across Exchange Inflows has exploded to 82%, which is now drastically above the long-term range over the last five years (typically 55% to 65%),” Glassnode states.

“From this, we can establish a case that much of the recent trading activity is driven by Whales active within the 2023 market (and thus classified as STHs).”Bitcoin short-term holders dominance of exchange inflows (screenshot). Source: Glassnode

Interest in trading short-timeframe moves on BTC/USD was already evident before May. Since the FTX meltdown in late 2022, speculators have been increasingly eager to tap volatility both up and down.

The results have been mixed: Realized profits and losses have routinely spiked in line with volatile price moves.

“If we look at the degree of Profit/Loss realized by Short-Term Holder volume flowing into exchanges, it becomes evident that these newer investors are trading local market conditions,” Glassnode continues.

“Each rally and correction since the FTX fallout has seen a 10k+ BTC uptick in STH profit or loss, respectively.” Bitcoin short-term holder profit-loss to exchanges (screenshot). Source: Glassnode