- It seems that the interest shown by traditional finance giants continues to inject momentum and volatility into Bitcoin.
- The market rally that followed a long period of stagnation in BTC’s price has caused many investors to lock in their profits.
- Addresses holding less than 1 BTC, also known as “Shrimp” addresses, have seen a significant increase with the start of the rally last week.
The rally in Bitcoin price is not over: The number of shrimp investors in Bitcoin has increased threefold; Shrimps lead the accumulation!
Retail Investors Accumulating Bitcoin
The price of Bitcoin has risen above $31,000 again. It appears that the interest shown by traditional finance giants continues to inject momentum and volatility into Bitcoin. The market rally that followed a long period of stagnation in BTC’s price has caused many investors to lock in their profits.
However, many retail investors in BTC have acted contrary to this trend. According to an analyst at blockchain research firm CryptoQuant, addresses holding less than 1 BTC, also known as “Shrimp” addresses, have seen a significant increase with the start of the rally last week.
According to the data, the number of addresses in the mentioned cohort has almost tripled since June 20. At the time of writing, the total number was over 331,000, which is the highest level seen so far.
Additionally, the cohort of investors holding between 1-10 BTC, known as “Crabs,” has also seen a threefold increase in the number of addresses. However, the increase was specifically driven by old addresses that are active but not participating in transactions.
A previous observation by the same analyst showed a significant increase in the number of old addresses, which occurred at a faster rate than the creation of new addresses on the network. This indicates that more long-term investors are accumulating BTC, anticipating further price increases.
By combining the above two observations, it has become clear that retail investors are actually leading the accumulation trend among long-term BTC investors.
Transaction Activity Remains Low
After the rally started, transaction activity on the Bitcoin network continued to remain low. According to Glassnode, the total amount of coins transferred on the chain decreased after the initial excitement of the rally.
Similarly, the supply leaving centralized exchanges (CEX) continued to increase. This supported the notion that despite being incentivized to lock in short-term gains, most experienced Bitcoin investors have a stronger desire to accumulate and HODL.