Bitcoin seeing ‘strong demand’ as crypto market eyes ‘recovery phase’

Analysis of previous bitcoin bull market corrections shows past year’s drawdown was much weaker than prior cycles — an indication of strong demand

article-image

Artomat/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

Trade activity for the world’s largest digital asset this year has, so far, remained fairly neutral to wider macroeconomic developments as market demand for bitcoin continues to prop up its price.

Assuming the November 2022 lows represent the bottom of the previous cycle, it’s possible to analyze the extent of the “bull market corrections” up to this point, Glassnode said Monday.

The steepest decline recorded for bitcoin (BTC) this year represents a mere -18%, which is low when compared to past cycles of bygone eras.

Data shows that, on average, bitcoin’s prior peak-to-troughs stood at roughly 48%, suggesting a “relatively strong degree of demand” for bitcoin currently exists, Glassnode said.

Bitcoin’s bull market correction drawdown history; Source: Glassnode

To further that point, the number of unique addresses holding 1 BTC surpassed the 1 million threshold for the first time on May 17 of this year — an indication of greater adoption.

Bitcoin’s hash rate, also another measure of adoption based on the network’s increase in security, rose to fresh heights on July 9, above 402 ExaHash per second (EH/s), data shows.

Mathias Beke, co-founder and CTO at market maker Kairon Labs, told Blockworks current sentiment and price action marked a “typical recovery phase.”

When asked if traders were looking to sell following excess market froth following Blackrock’s spot bitcoin ETF application, Beke said they were wary of potential declines and as such are not making significant moves in either direction.

“We think it’s a mix of big tech being fairly parabolic, but it looks like they might cool down a bit,” he said.

Still, uncertainty surrounding the US market and its approach to digital asset regulation has given traders pause, particularly as the asset’s four-year halving event swiftly approaches.

“At the moment there’s a lot up in the air around Binance, as well as the liquidations that could take place from FTX and Celsius,” Beke 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 Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

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

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research

article-image

Crypto’s calls are equally as juiced as puts, creating a “smile” in the volatility surface

article-image

Turns out that owning the end-user via a crypto wallet is quite a prosperous business

article-image

The announcement followed growing speculation that Gensler would announce his exit before Trump takes office next year

article-image

HashKey Capital’s Jupiter Zheng highlighted three success areas he’s watching: Ethereum, Solana and certain tokens in DeFi

article-image

Jack explored the various AI and memecoin projects that have sprung up over the past month

article-image

If gold remains steady today, a single move from bitcoin to $98,500 would do it