Bitcoin flashes signs of resiliency as October growth holds steady

More than two-thirds of the asset’s total supply is now held by individuals likely to be long-term holders

article-image

DRN Studio/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

Bitcoin (BTC) is less than six months from its next halving event anticipated for the start of April next year, leading to analyst speculation on the effect on its price trends. 

The asset is up more than 66% year-to-date to $27,600 after posting its first September win in seven years. Recent data indicates nuanced shifts in the crypto’s behavior, according to Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest. 

In its latest “The Bitcoin Monthly” report, the asset manager noted several noteworthy observations, including that the asset may be in “cyclically oversold territory.”

“Bitcoin’s Realized-Profits-to-Realized-Cap closed September at 0.02%, slightly above 0.01%, its yearly low. This oversold condition has occurred only seven times in bitcoin’s history,” the report said.

ARK’s data also indicated a significant concentration of bitcoin with long-term holders. It comes despite a dip in the asset’s price on Monday which some are attributing to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Specifically, 76% of bitcoin’s total supply is now held by individuals who have not transacted in over 155 days. This could imply a reduced availability of bitcoin for active trading, Ark said.

Blockchain analytics firm, Glassnode, reported last week that the total bitcoin held long-term or presumed lost has hit a five-year record, exceeding 7.9 million BTC. 

In the broader financial landscape, bitcoin’s price movement appear to be diverging from traditional equity markets, a spokesperson for Bitfinex analysts told Blockworks.

Bitcoin’s price has recalibrated ahead of the S&P 500’s recovery from its 4,200-point low earlier this month. According to their analysis, correlation metrics showed bitcoin’s alignment with equities, which stood at 0.8 on August 25, has since fallen considerably.

By September, the correlation had flipped to -0.5, indicating a contrast to the movements of the world’s foremost digital asset and traditional equities. 

“This is usually observed in situations where there is a sudden bullish or bearish development for either asset class or if either bitcoin or the US stock market prices in information at a faster pace than the other,” the spokesperson said.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the On the Margin newsletter.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

recent research

Research Report Templates (1).png

Research

Solana Mobile is a highly ambitious foray into the mobile consumer hardware market, seeking to open up a crypto-native distribution channel for mobile-first applications. The market for Solana Mobile devices has demonstrated a phenomenon whereby external market actors (e.g. Solana-native projects) continuously underwrite subsidies to Mobile consumers. The value of these subsidies, coming in the form of airdrops, trial programs, and exclusive NFT mints, have consistently covered the cost of the phone and generated positive returns for consumers. Given this trend in subsidies, the unit economics in the market for Mobile devices, and the initial growth rate and trajectory of sales, it should be expected that Solana mobile can clear 1M to 10M units over the coming years. As more devices circulate amongst users, Solana Mobile presents a promising venue for the emergence of killer-applications uniquely enabled by this mobile-first, crypto-native distribution channel.

article-image

Crypto’s Wild West era is over — it’s time to embrace regulation to secure the future of digital assets

article-image

Plus, Solana has now surpassed Ethereum in trailing 30-day decentralized exchange volume

article-image

Polymarket betters say Kamala Harris has better odds than Biden of winning against Trump

article-image

Bitcoin’s down Tuesday, while ETH-correlated assets like ENS and ARB see growth

article-image

Plus, let’s check on the nine ether ETFs now trading on US exchanges