Bitcoin (BTC) held steady on Friday, easing slightly from its record high of $99,655 as U.S. markets slowed in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The modest pullback comes even as on-chain data reveals that short-term holders offloaded significant amounts of BTC, incurring nearly $4 billion in realized losses. However, the dip presented a golden opportunity for whales, who accumulated approximately $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in a single day.
CryptoQuant analyst Caueconomy highlighted the trend, tweeting, “Whales take advantage and accumulate $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in the last dip. On Tuesday, almost 16,000 BTC entered whale reserves, continuing to rise yesterday.”
Data from the firm shows that since October, whale addresses have added over 130,000 BTC to their reserves, while retail investors have reduced their holdings by 41,000 BTC.
Notably, whales weren’t the only ones capitalizing on the price decline. Institutional players such as MicroStrategy, Semler Scientific, Marathon Digital, and Metaplanet have all increased their Bitcoin holdings over the past week, reflecting strong confidence in Bitcoin’s long-term potential. The bullish sentiment is further reinforced by record inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, which saw $3.1 billion in investments between November 18 and 22 as Bitcoin neared the $100,000 mark.
As per the firm, however, institutional spot buying has yet to ignite widespread retail participation, which is considered a key catalyst for Bitcoin to break into new all-time highs (ATHs).
“Previous bull runs ended when retail aggressively bought, but today, that is not happening. Institutional players are leading the accumulation phase,” the firm emphasized.
That said, according to CryptoQuant’s Cycle Indicator, the current bull market remains in its infancy, with Bitcoin yet to enter the “Extreme Bull” phase.
Historical data suggests room for further price drawdowns, offering potential entry points for both retail and institutional investors. The firm thus forecasted that the realized price of Bitcoin could peak near $146,000 in this cycle, believing the market is consolidating ahead of the next leg up.
Other industry experts have also expressed optimism about Bitcoin’s trajectory. David Puell, an analyst at Ark Invest, projected that Bitcoin could exceed $104,000 by early January 2025.
“We’re more or less anticipating $104,000 to $124,000 price targets by end of year,” Puell noted in a recent interview. With the caveat that it’s not a recommendation, but so far, price action has kept up to that projection quite nicely.”
The pundit attributed his forecast to Bitcoin’s historical seasonality, suggesting the cryptocurrency is temporarily consolidated before resuming its upward momentum. Notably, Ark Invest analysts believe Bitcoin is merely “catching its breath” before surging past the $100,000 threshold and beyond.
BTC was trading at $97,282 at press time, reflecting a modest 1.97% surge in the past 24 hours.