Bitcoin Whales Buy The Crash: Exchange Outflows At Highest In 2024

On-chain data suggests the Bitcoin whales could be accumulating the dip as spot exchanges have recently seen their largest withdrawal of 2024.

Bitcoin Exchange Netflow Has Turned Deep Red Recently

As pointed out by an analyst in a CryptoQuant Quicktake post, a large number of coins has left the spot exchanges recently. The indicator of relevance here is the “exchange netflow,” which keeps track of the net amount of Bitcoin moving into or out of the wallets attached to all centralized exchanges.

When the value of this metric is negative, it means the outflows are overwhelming the inflows right now, and a net amount is exiting the wallets of these platforms. This kind of trend could imply the investors are looking to hold onto the long-term, which can naturally be bullish for BTC.

On the other hand, the indicator being positive suggests the holders are making net deposits to the exchanges. The exact implication of such a trend on the cryptocurrency depends on which type of exchange is receiving these deposits, spot or derivatives.

In the case of spot exchanges, inflows can be bearish for the price, as they suggest investors may be looking to sell. Derivatives inflows aren’t so simple, but they do lead to higher volatility for the asset, as they imply that traders are looking to open more risk positions on the market.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Bitcoin exchange netflow, specifically for spot exchanges since the start of the year:

As displayed in the graph, the Bitcoin exchange netflow for the spot exchanges has seen a massive negative spike during the latest downturn in the price, potentially suggesting that some large investors are accumulating.

In total, this net outflow spike has corresponded to more than 46,000 BTC leaving these platforms, equivalent to over $2.6 billion at the current exchange rate of the cryptocurrency.

Given the timing of the outflows, it’s possible that whales are banking on the price to go up from these latest lows as they are shifting their coins off into self-custody.

It’s also not just the spot platforms that are seeing this trend, either, as another quant has pointed out that the netflow for the derivatives exchanges has also witnessed large negative spikes.

These net outflows from the derivatives platforms could suggest the whales are looking to reduce their risk. But as these coins haven’t gone into spot exchanges, these derivatives users could be planning to hold for an extended period, following in the lead of the spot whales.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at around $57,200, down almost 9% in the past week.