Bitcoin Whale Accumulation Reaches Its Highest Level Since 2024
Data on changes in Bitcoin whale balances (addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC) show a clear structural shift in the behavior of major investors. Recent readings indicate a notable acceleration in the pace of accumulation compared with previous periods, reaching the highest level since 2024. Total whale holdings have risen to approximately 3.204 million BTC, confirming a renewed return of long-term interest from this influential group.
Meanwhile, whale activity data on the Binance platform show a notable increase in the share of whale-driven activity. The indicator reached nearly 0.65 during January, its highest level since last November This dynamic often points to active position management, in which whales allocate a portion of their liquidity to hedge against volatility, rotate capital across different financial instruments, or open and close derivative positions without abandoning their core long-term holdings.
In terms of flows, the data show a strong 30-day change of approximately 152,000 BTC, reflecting a clear acceleration in net accumulation. and suggests that the current buildup is not merely a short-term move, but part of a broader repositioning cycle. By contrast, the 7-day change registered a positive reading of nearly 30,000 BTC, indicating that positive momentum remains intact even across shorter timeframes.
the current on-chain and exchange-level data suggest that Bitcoin is entering a phase of structural consolidation driven by large holders rather than speculative excess.
A Day of Overlapping Shocks: How Renewed U.S. Shutdown Risk Shaped Market Structure
The Bitcoin market is in a transitional phase, shifting from the latter stage of an uptrend into a corrective regime. While the medium- to long-term structure has not clearly broken, short-term conditions have become increasingly unstable and flow-driven.
Today’s sharp decline cannot be attributed to a single factor. It reflects the overlap of macro-driven risk-off sentiment, concerns over AI investment following major U.S. tech earnings, rising geopolitical risk involving the U.S. and Iran, renewed U.S. government shutdown risk, simultaneous sell-offs across equities and commodities, crypto-specific liquidity constraints, and a broad unwinding of excessive leverage. In aggregate, this functioned as a market-wide stress test.
When these forces coincide, downside pressure on Bitcoin tends to amplify. In periods of macro uncertainty, investors prioritize reducing overall risk exposure, and Bitcoin—highly liquid and traded 24/7—often becomes a vehicle for position adjustment. Added political and geopolitical uncertainty further suppresses risk-taking, while limited market depth and elevated leverage increase the likelihood that initial declines trigger liquidations, magnifying price moves.
The renewed focus on U.S. shutdown risk is particularly important. While shutdown threats have not consistently driven Bitcoin in recent years, the prolonged shutdown in October 2025 left a strong imprint on market psychology as risk-off conditions intensified over time. That memory continues to influence behavior.
On-chain data support this view. The decline in the Coinbase Premium Index indicates heightened stress among U.S.-based investors, suggesting that selling pressure was driven more by U.S. sentiment deterioration than by a synchronized global exit.
For now, a corrective phase driven by overlapping external risks remains the base scenario. However, if shutdown risk fades and U.S.-led flows stabilize, this assessment would need to be reconsidered.
Global Sell Off : -8% Gold, -12% Silver, -5% BTC, While Binance Open Interest Back Up to Pre-Octo...
In a context where gold recorded a sudden correction of around 8% and silver roughly 12%, Bitcoin experienced a more moderate pullback of about 5%. This move occurred as part of a broader market sell off, with neither the S&P 500 nor the Nasdaq being spared.
The decline was notably triggered by announcements from Microsoft, particularly those related to its investments in artificial intelligence, which led to a drop of more than 12% in its stock and caused a domino effect across global markets.
This relatively mild correction in Bitcoin was nonetheless sufficient to trigger nearly $300M in long position liquidations within just a few hours.
Hyperliquid accounted for the largest share of these liquidations, with $87.1M in long positions wiped out. In contrast, Binance, despite being known for having some of the highest trading volumes in the market, recorded roughly three times less, at around $30M.
This highlights that many investors continue to seek market exposure through high leverage, generating sudden bursts of volatility that are often amplified by liquidation cascades.
This appetite for risk remains clearly present, despite the October 10 event, which had previously resulted in a massive destruction of liquidity and capital across the market.
To illustrate this behavior, one simply needs to look at the current open interest on Binance. It is expressed not in notional value, but in BTC terms, in order to neutralize the impact of price fluctuations that affect notional open interest. This method allows for a more accurate assessment of the underlying trend in investor exposure.
At 123,500 BTC, open interest on Binance has already surpassed the level observed the day before the October 10 event. At that time, open interest had dropped to 93,600 BTC. This represents an increase of roughly 31% since then, gradually reflecting the return of risk appetite among investors.
📉 Net Taker Vol has surpassed -$500M, marking the most aggressive negative value since December 2025.
📉 BTC dropped below $85K immediately after.
🧠 Final Thoughts
Historically, USDT burns on the Ethereum network tend to reduce effective market liquidity, often resulting in lower digital asset buying activity, particularly during periods of increasing stablecoin dominance.
Unprecedented Rush Into Gold RWAs As Price Parabolically Hits $5,500
On-chain data reveals a massive surge in network activity for the two largest gold-backed tokens, PAXG and XAUT, perfectly coinciding with Gold’s historic parabolic run to the $5,500 level. This tight synchronization between the underlying asset’s price action and real-world asset (RWA) utility signals a maturing market in which blockchain is increasingly becoming a primary venue for trading traditional commodities.
Data Analysis
The charts point to a clear and direct correlation between Gold’s aggressive price movement and on-chain velocity:
PAXG Explosion: Pax Gold (PAXG) transaction counts experienced a vertical and unprecedented spike, reaching an all-time high of 36.7K transactions. This surge indicates rapid capital rotation into digital gold as the physical asset reached peak valuations.
XAUT Momentum: Tether Gold (XAUT) followed a similar trajectory. As illustrated in the chart, transaction counts climbed to 18.3K, moving closely in lockstep with Gold’s price (orange line) throughout the rally from late 2025 into early 2026.
Key Insights
Shift in Investor Behavior: During periods of extreme volatility and rapid price discovery, investors are increasingly favoring the speed, liquidity, and transferability of blockchain-based gold over traditional settlement systems. The near-instant settlement of on-chain RWAs is proving critical during parabolic market moves.
RWA Validation: This episode serves as a strong proof of concept for real-world assets on-chain. Utility is no longer theoretical—high-value traditional assets are actively being transacted on blockchain networks at peak market valuations.
Conclusion
Although a short-term cooling-off period in transaction activity may follow this parabolic surge, the structural baseline for gold RWA usage has likely shifted higher. The market has effectively validated tokenized gold as a liquid and increasingly preferred vehicle for capturing rapid price appreciation in the commodities market.
Late Bull, Early Bear, or Just a Reset? ASOPR Holds the Clue
Since early 2024, while BTC price reached new all-time highs climbing from around $40K to over $100K, the adjusted SOPR metric has been painting a completely different picture, forming a clear pattern of lower highs and lower lows.
This divergence reveals critical information about investor behavior.
Each time Bitcoin made a new price peak, holders were taking profits progressively earlier, showing decreasing conviction with each rally. The metric tracked a descending pattern of profit-taking events, with investors becoming increasingly eager to exit positions with decreasing returns.
We're now at a pivotal moment.
Zooming into the second chart, aSOPR has respected a descending channel with remarkable consistency. Every touch of the upper boundary aligned with local price tops, while visits to the lower boundary coincided with local bottoms. This makes aSOPR not just a sentiment gauge, but a timing tool for understanding stress points in the market.
Right now Bitcoin is currently testing the lower boundary of this channel amid extreme fear sentiment, with roughly 1/3 of the total supply now underwater. Historically, these conditions (aSOPR below 1.0 combined with elevated unrealized losses) have presented tactical buying opportunities before short-term rebounds.
However, the market stands at a crossroads.
If current support levels fail and additional technical indicators confirm bearish momentum, we could be entering a capitulation phase. The descending highs in aSOPR throughout the bull cycle suggest weakening hands, and a breakdown from here could trigger accelerated selling.
Risk management is essential here. This is no time for complacency. The market structure demands respect, and position sizing should reflect the elevated uncertainty we're currently navigating.
Tron Network Activity Explodes: Active Addresses Hit Historic 5M Milestone
On-chain data reveals that the Tron network is experiencing unprecedented traffic. The 7-day Simple Moving Average (SMA-7) of Active Addresses has gone parabolic, shattering previous highs to reach a historic record of 5 million.
This massive surge in user activity comes as TRX price consolidates around the $0.29 level. This bullish divergence between soaring network activity and stable price action sends a clear signal:
Utility over Speculation: This spike is likely driven by genuine utility, particularly high-frequency stablecoin (USDT) transfers and payments, rather than mere speculative trading.
Mass Adoption: Hitting 5 million active addresses cements Tron’s status as a dominant global payment rail. Typically, when fundamental network value (user growth) expands this aggressively, price action tends to eventually catch up to reflect the increased utility.
CVD Data Indicates Controlled Selling Dominance As Bitcoin Trades Around $88,000
Data on Bitcoin’s Estimated Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) on the Binance platform shows a total trading volume of approximately 101,258 units, confirming continued market activity and the absence of a liquidity shortage. However, the price change reading was negative at -6.24, reflecting limited price pressure without a sharp downward move.
The most notable element is the volume delta, which reached approximately -631,849, a relatively large negative reading indicating that market sell orders outweighed buy orders during the measured period. This behavior was clearly reflected in the CVD, which fell to approximately -180,615, confirming that net cumulative flows continue to favor sellers.
Despite these negative values in volume delta and CVD, the price did not exhibit a proportional decline, indicating strong absorption capacity within the order book. This type of discrepancy between price and volume flows is typically interpreted as controlled selling being absorbed by deeper liquidity, rather than a case of forced liquidation or widespread panic.
Structurally, Bitcoin’s continued trading above $88,000 while the CVD remains in negative territory suggests that the market is undergoing a repositioning phase rather than entering a clear downtrend. Such phases are often observed ahead of directional moves or a broader trading range, particularly if selling pressure persists without breaking key support levels.
the current figures reflect genuine but non-aggressive selling pressure, with a delicate balance between inflows and outflows, leaving the market in a state of heightened anticipation for any upcoming catalyst.
Bears Unchallenged: Leverage Reset Following the Drop From $128k
CryptoQuant data reveals that the 30-day Simple Moving Average (SMA-30) of Bitcoin short liquidations on Binance has plummeted to ~$1,200, a low not seen since September 2020.
This dramatic drop in liquidation volume occurs in a critical context: Bitcoin has undergone a severe correction from its All-Time High of ~$128,000 down to the current $88,000 range.
When short liquidations vanish following a $40,000 price decline, it signals two key market dynamics:
Bearish Dominance: Short sellers have ridden the trend down with virtually no resistance. The lack of liquidations implies there have been no significant relief rallies to squeeze out the bears, allowing them to hold or close positions profitably without force.
Market Leverage Reset: The speculative froth has been washed out. Reaching the lows of September 2020 suggests the market has entered a state of exhaustion.
This is the “silence after the storm.” The absence of short liquidations means there is currently no fuel for a “Short Squeeze.” For Bitcoin to reverse this downtrend and reclaim higher levels, it can no longer rely on cascading liquidations; it requires genuine, organic spot demand to rebuild momentum.
Bitcoin Taker Flow on Binance Shows Caution, Not a Bullish Breakout
Bitcoin taker flow on Binance suggests that recent price stability is not being driven by strong buying pressure. This metric tracks market orders and helps identify whether buyers or sellers are actively crossing the spread and setting short-term direction.
The latest data shows Binance’s 7-day net taker flow is still only slightly positive. Buyers are present, but their advantage over sellers remains small, keeping sentiment in the slight buying pressure zone. This tells us that participation exists, yet conviction is weak. The market is moving, but not with force.
Today’s reading reinforces this view. Net taker volume remains positive, but it is small compared to total volume. Buyers are willing to step in, though they are not chasing price aggressively. This behavior is very different from early bull-market phases, where strong and persistent taker buying absorbs sell pressure and pushes price higher with momentum.
From a market structure perspective, this reflects balance rather than strength. Sellers are no longer dominating the order book, but buyers are also not committing enough capital to take control. In past cycles, sustained bullish moves on Binance only emerged once 7-day taker flow expanded meaningfully and conviction increased, neither of which has happened yet.
For now, Binance taker flow points to stability without strength, suggesting the market is consolidating and waiting for stronger liquidity and more decisive participation before the next clear move.
Bitcoin Shows Signs of Macro Fatigue Amid Ongoing Leverage Reset
Recent quarterly performance highlights a clear shift in Bitcoin market structure. After a strong mid-2025 expansion phase marked by consistent positive quarterly returns, performance has turned negative in recent periods. This transition suggests the market has moved away from trend continuation and into a corrective or consolidation regime. Such shifts typically reflect weakening marginal demand rather than a structural breakdown, especially following an extended rally.
Drawdown analysis provides further context. Current pullbacks are approaching deeper historical correction zones, levels more commonly associated with cyclical resets than full-scale bear market capitulation. Price remains below the 1-year average drawdown, indicating that downside pressure is no longer brief or opportunistic. This environment often coincides with reduced risk appetite and more selective capital deployment.
Derivatives data reinforces this interpretation. The Futures Open Interest percent change oscillator shows repeated sharp contractions, signaling aggressive leverage unwinding. Large negative open interest shocks have consistently aligned with local price lows, implying that forced liquidations, rather than sustained spot selling, are driving recent volatility. This behavior is characteristic of leverage-driven corrections rather than broad capital flight.
Finally, the 90-day Market versus Realized Price Gradient Oscillator points to fading macro momentum. The gradient has spent increasing time below its baseline and near lower deviation bands, reflecting a loss of bullish impulse relative to realized price. Historically, this configuration aligns with late-cycle cooling phases, where price action becomes range-bound while the market works to rebuild a healthier cost basis. A durable recovery would likely require leverage stabilization alongside renewed spot demand.
Capital Rotation: BTC Struggles As Liquidity Shifts to Record-Breaking Gold and S&P 500
The investment market is currently a tale of two worlds. While precious metals and U.S. equities continue to hit all-time highs, Bitcoin’s on-chain data is flashing warning signs. A "confluence" of two core indicators reveals a deepening fatigue in the crypto market.
1️⃣ Institutional Exodus: The Coinbase Discount The Coinbase Premium Index remains deeply negative, hitting a periodic low of -0.169%. This indicates that selling pressure during U.S. trading hours far exceeds the global average. With the index turning positive only twice in January, this persistent negative premium serves as a strong signal of deleveraging by institutions and high-net-worth individuals.
2️⃣ Evaporating "Dry Powder": Capital Flight to Fiat Even more concerning is the contraction of stablecoin market caps. The top 12 stablecoins saw $2.24 billion (with a total peak-to-trough decline of $5.6 billion) vanish recently. This isn't a typical "rotation into stables" to buy the dip; it is a direct exit from the crypto ecosystem back into fiat currency. Without this "dry powder" standing by, any market rebound will lack necessary momentum.
Market Insight:
Caught between an institutional retreat and shrinking liquidity, the market is currently skewed to the downside.
Bear Case: If selling pressure intensifies, watch for a test of key structural supports: the True Mean Price at $81K, 2024 top at $70,000, or the 200-week MA at 58K.
Bull Case: A prolonged period of sideways consolidation to absorb overhead supply, remaining range-bound until stablecoin inflows return and new capital re-enters the fray.
XRP Trades Below 200-Day Average As Risk-Adjusted Metrics Signal Cautious Equilibrium
XRP data on Binance indicates a delicate state of cautious equilibrium in the market, with current values reflecting a combination of long-term structural weakness and limited short-term recovery attempts. According to the latest data, XRP is trading at around 1.89, while the 200-day moving average stands near 2.54, meaning the price remains approximately 25% below this average. This discrepancy clearly indicates that the overall long-term trend has not yet transitioned into a sustained uptrend, and that the market is still operating within a corrective range rather than a structural one.
From a risk-adjusted return perspective, the 30-day Sharpe Ratio registers a low value of 0.034, a reading very close to zero. This suggests that the return achieved over the past month offers minimal compensation for the level of risk assumed, reflecting a trading environment characterized by consolidation and a lack of clear directional conviction. Such readings typically emerge during rebalancing phases, when traders’ impulsiveness declines and the market becomes increasingly sensitive to changes in liquidity conditions.
Conversely, the Sharpe Z-Score shows a positive reading of approximately 0.70, indicating a relative improvement in return quality compared to the recent historical average. However, this level still falls short of the statistically significant threshold associated with strong trend formation. This implies that the market has partially recovered from prior pressures but has not yet entered a phase of clear risk-adjusted outperformance.
Meanwhile, the 7-day Sharpe Momentum, at around 0.03, reflects weak positive momentum in the short term. Although this indicator remains above zero, its modest level suggests that the current price behavior is more consistent with gradual consolidation or base-building, rather than a strong or impulsive price advance.
Bitcoin Is Not Financing the Gold Rally: Liquidity Is Still Waiting
A common narrative suggests that Bitcoin sell-offs are financing the rally in precious metals, particularly gold. On-chain data does not support this view.
The Stablecoin Supply Ratio (SSR) indicates that capital is not leaving the crypto ecosystem, but remains in liquidity, waiting for opportunities to enter Bitcoin.
What Does the Stablecoin Supply Ratio Measure?
The SSR measures the purchasing power of stablecoins relative to Bitcoin.
A lower SSR reflects higher latent purchasing power, while a higher SSR means liquidity has already been deployed into BTC.
Key SSR Levels
Historically, the SSR has moved within clear ranges:
Between 10 and 15: neutral zone, often linked to consolidation.
Below 10–11: high latent purchasing power, often preceding bullish phases.
These levels provide structural context, not timing signals.
Reading the Current Context
The SSR stands at 12.57, down from recent highs in the 18–19 range.
This reflects a shift from deployed liquidity to liquidity on hold.
Bitcoin’s price remains structurally stable, indicating that capital is not exiting, but waiting.
Diversification, Not Rotation from Bitcoin to Gold
The gold rally should not be interpreted as a direct result of Bitcoin selling.
Large capital allocators follow multi-asset diversification strategies, holding exposure to equities, precious metals, digital assets, and stablecoins.
The lower SSR confirms that capital is not rotating from Bitcoin into gold, but diversifying while keeping liquidity within the crypto ecosystem.
Conclusion
Bitcoin is not financing the gold rally.
Liquidity is waiting, not fleeing.
The Stablecoin Supply Ratio shows that capital remains sidelined in stablecoins, ready to re-enter Bitcoin. With the SSR at 12.57, the market is in a pause phase that has historically preceded clearer directional moves.
by Carmelo Alemán, On Chain Analist at Cryptoquant
FOMC Does Not Set Bitcoin’s Direction — It Resets Positioning
The FOMC announced on January 28, 2026 (U.S. time) that policy rates would be held at 3.75%, reinforcing a wait-and-see stance near neutral. Economic activity remains solid, the labor market shows signs of stabilization, and inflation is still somewhat elevated. The message was clear: there is no urgency to ease policy.
While FOMC decisions consistently attract attention in crypto markets, historical data shows that these meetings rarely define Bitcoin’s medium-term direction. Instead, they tend to function as positioning reset points.
Looking at FOMC meetings in 2025, Bitcoin’s 7-day performance after each decision was inconsistent. Rate-hold meetings produced mixed but relatively mild moves, while rate cuts in September, October, and December were followed by declines of roughly 6–8%. This suggests that outcomes were driven less by policy itself and more by market conditions going into the event.
Ahead of FOMC meetings, leverage and open interest often build as expectations become widely shared. Volatility compresses and liquidity thins, creating an appearance of stability. However, once the event passes and no new bullish catalyst emerges, markets shift into adjustment mode. Particularly during rate-cut cycles, easing expectations are frequently priced in beforehand, turning the decision into a trigger for profit-taking and position unwinds.
On-chain and derivatives data consistently show that post-FOMC moves are characterized by higher volume, wider spreads, and faster price swings. This reflects structural cleanup rather than a change in long-term trend.
The key takeaway is that FOMC meetings do not decide Bitcoin’s direction. They expose how crowded positioning has become and accelerate its resolution. Over the next 30 days, the critical signals will come not from policy rhetoric, but from whether leverage, selling pressure, and liquidity conditions normalize after the event.
Tether’s Anomalous Surge: Network Activity Peaks As Bitcoin Rejects $92k
Recent data from CryptoQuant reveals a fascinating divergence. While the 30-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) of Tether (ERC20) active addresses has gone parabolic, touching a record 300,000, Bitcoin failed to breach the critical $92k resistance and faced a pullback.
The key insight lies in combining this metric with the observed stablecoin outflows from exchanges. A surge in active addresses coupled with exchange outflows is typically not a signal of immediate buying pressure on Centralized Exchanges (CEXs). Instead, it points toward a capital rotation into DeFi protocols or Self-Custody wallets.
This behavior suggests that following Bitcoin’s correction, investors are not cashing out into fiat (leaving the market completely). Rather, they are choosing to hold liquidity in Tether and move it on-chain. The spike in network activity is likely driven by users seeking yield (farming) during market chopping or executing swaps on Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs). Liquidity hasn’t left the ecosystem; it is accumulating in the underlying layers of the Ethereum network, potentially waiting for the next clear trend to deploy.
Futures in Focus: Can Bitcoin Hold $90k Against Persistent Spot Pressure?
Bitcoin’s price action currently presents an intriguing divergence, holding steady around the $90k level despite Bybit exhibiting distinctive negative funding rates that imply a temporary but aggressive skew toward short-selling (image 1). This derivative pressure appears to coincide with weakness in the spot market, evidenced by a sustained negative Coinbase Premium that suggests persistent spot selling pressure (image 2). Consequently, the market's immediate trajectory will likely be determined by whether broader futures activity across other major exchanges aligns with this specific bearish flow or absorbs it, setting the stage for the next volatility expansion.
XRPL DEX Activity Hits Highest Level in Over a Year (Since Early 2025)
The XRP Ledger has started 2026 with remarkable on-chain momentum. The 14-day Moving Average (MA) of DEX Transaction Count has surged to 1.014 million, breaking a ceiling that has held since the beginning of 2025.
Reaching a 13-month high is a significant technical and fundamental milestone. It indicates that after a year of consolidation or steady usage in 2025, the network is experiencing a fresh wave of liquidity and user engagement. This isn’t just a momentary spike; the moving average confirms a sustained trend of increased trading activity on the decentralized exchange.
This breakout suggests that the XRPL ecosystem is maturing, with rising demand for token swaps and DeFi interactions as we move deeper into 2026. Historically, breaking such a long-standing resistance in on-chain activity often correlates with renewed market interest and potential positive price action for the native asset.
Bitcoin Deposits on Binance Surge As Recent Holders Take Action
📰 Daily Market Update:
The chart provides a deeper layer of analysis by breaking down BTC deposits into Binance based on coin age, meaning how long the coins stayed dormant before being moved to the exchange.
📊 [Bitcoin] Binance Exchange Inflow by Holder Age
This chart tracks BTC inflows to Binance, segmented by coin age — how long the BTC sat in wallets before being moved.
🔬 Key observation:
📈 Over the last few hours, Binance recorded a total inflow of 395 BTC, mostly from the 1W–1M age band.
⏲️ Notably, this is the second inflow event in January:
📅 January 15: ~52 BTC deposited
📅 Current event: 395 BTC deposited
📅 The last time a similar inflow from short-term holders occurred on January 15, Bitcoin was trading around $96,000.
Over the following 10 days, BTC gradually declined toward the $88,000 area.
🧠 Final Thoughts
Short-term Bitcoin holder inflows into Binance are not a macro top signal, but they are a valuable short-term risk indicator.
The current 395 BTC inflow from the 1W–1M cohort suggests that some recent buyers are choosing to reduce exposure.