Bitcoin (BTC) continues to show strong gains after rising. Key figures show that the upward trend in recent months is likely to be driven by smart investors. This means that when the price of Bitcoin exceeds $15,000 this month, retail or mainstream investors are mostly on the sidelines.
In 2017, the price of Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $20,000, when retail investor demand was also at its peak. Google Trends data has soared, mainstream media reports have increased significantly, and spot trading volumes have exploded in major markets, especially in South Korea and Japan.
This time, Google Trends showed relatively low search interest for the “Bitcoin” keyword, while on-chain data showed that smart investors are hoarding Bitcoin.
High net worth investors are buying Bitcoin
In addition, on-chain analyst Willy Woo said that most of the purchases of bitcoin are high net worth investors.
Average Bitcoin Transfer Volume Source: Glassnode
When whales buy Bitcoin, they mostly use the over-the-counter market (OTC) to make the transaction. Over time, whales led the buying boom, and the spot market and derivatives market followed in the footsteps of the over-the-counter market. Woo said:
“Who is driving this rise? It is savvy investors and high-net-worth individual investors. You can see that the average transaction value between investors has risen sharply. Over-the-counter trading platforms have also seen this. Bitcoin is still invisible Bull market stage.”
The trend of whales leading retail investors is optimistic because it shows that Bitcoin is still in the initial bull market stage. A large amount of funds from new retail investors and mainstream investors have not yet entered the cryptocurrency market.
Another Glassnode indicator also shows a similar trend. The number of Bitcoin addresses holding more than 100 BTC reached a seven-month high of 16,271.
Number of addresses holding more than 100 BTC Source: Glassnode
New capital inflow
In the past few months, the whales’ continued purchase of Bitcoin is itself optimistic. However, Woo emphasized that the number of new whales has also increased.
If the number of addresses holding a large amount of Bitcoin increases, analysts believe this is because of the overall increase in the number of new whales.
More and more high-net-worth individual investors are hoarding Bitcoin, which coincides with the recent rise of institutional BTC buying frenzy.
After Square purchased $50 million worth of BTC, the number of high-net-worth investors in the Bitcoin market increased significantly. Woo explained:
“The most important thing is that we not only see the inflow of funds from savvy investors, but also from new savvy investors. The orange line represents the rate of influx of new investors into the blockchain every hour. This situation is very bullish. .”
Google Trends data shows that retail investors have relatively low interest in Bitcoin
Google Trends data shows a similar situation to the data points on the chain. Compared with the highest level in 2017, the search volume for the “Bitcoin” keyword is currently less than 10%.
Google Bitcoin search volume Source: Google Trends
Nevertheless, while the search volume for Bitcoin is still low, states such as Hawaii, California, Nevada, and Washington are particularly interested in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin search interest in various regions of the United States Source: Google Trends
Interestingly, by 2020, California and Hawaii will rank third and fourth in per capita income respectively.
In addition, San Jose/San Francisco, California, or Silicon Valley, has the highest interest in Bitcoin. Of course, many high-net-worth investors and entrepreneurs are from Silicon Valley.
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