Bitcoin HODLing activity high: The end of the bear market?

Looking at Bitcoin’s trading activity, the majority of action has been investors HODLing (“Holding On for Dear Life”), and not trading or selling for the past three months.

According to data by crypto and blockchain analytics firm Glassnode, more than 80% of Bitcoin traders have not touched their portfolios, and have been sitting tight. This implies that investors are “unwilling to spend at lower prices” and that most of the leading cryptocurrency’s coin supply is dormant.

Bitcoin price today

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is sitting on a price tag of $21,300.02 – a value it has been trading around for the past month (between $19,000 and $22,000). This is nearly 70% off its record high, which is reached eight months ago.

Source: Coingecko

While the market is bearish and traders are worried that the cryptocurrency hasn’t bottomed yet, Glassnode’s data suggests that the HODLing activity we’re seeing now resembles that of the end of previous bear markets. Looking at Glassnode’s chart, the bear run in 2012, 2o15, and 2018, Bitcoin’s trading activity looking similar to the levels we’re seeing now.

Glassnode recently also noted that the market has seen a mass exodus of Bitcoin “tourists”, indicating that new and short-term traders who are in the market for a quick profit to leave shortly thereafter are not in trading right now. Additionally, there has been a decrease in active investors and traders transaction since November. The implication matches the data that HODLing activity is strong – that is that new investors and existing traders are not interacting with the network as much.