Bitcoin (BTC) price rose above $71,000 for the first time since March 15, as capital flows into spot BTC ETFs turned positive.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that BTC has risen more than 0.55% over the last 24 hours to hit a weekly high at $71,582 on March 26.
BTC/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView
Several factors fuel BTC’s current price movement, including consistent spot Bitcoin ETF inflows, the upcoming Bitcoin halving and the overall positive investor sentiment among institutional investors.
Let’s look at the factors behind Bitcoin’s rally today.
Bitcoin whales accumulate more BTC
Large Bitcoin investors have been adding to their holdings in anticipation of price increases in the future. Data from market intelligence firm Santiment shows that the percentage of wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC has increased from 23% on Jan. 1 to 25.17% on March 26.
As shown in the chart below, the percentage of those holding between 10,000 and 100,000 BTC saw a sharp spike from 11.68% on March 2 to 12.42% on March 21 before slightly dropping to current levels of 11.98%
BTC supply distribution, %. Source: Santiment
Bitcoin whale accumulation is supported by reducing BTC deposits on exchanges. According to Glassnode data, the number of deposit transactions to known exchange wallets started decreasing on March 5, when BTC’s price climbed above $69,000.This drop continued on March 19 despite the price falling more than 9% on the day to close below $65,000, with deposits to exchanges declining from 109,420 transactions to 55,505 on March 25.
BTC deposit to exchanges. Source: Glassnode
Decreasing transfer of BTC to exchanges suggests a lack of intent to sell, which is generally a bullish sign.
Instead, there has been an increase in the number of whales transferring Bitcoin from exchanges. On March 11, blockchain tracker and analytics firm Whale Alert flagged several transactions transferring large amounts of BTC from exchanges to self-custody wallets.
On March 25, one holder transferred 2,400 BTC worth $169.5 million from the Coinbase crypto exchange to an unknown new wallet.
Another whale…
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