- The leading cryptocurrency fell by 8.6% in August. Historically, September sees an average decline of 4.5%.
- Analysts anticipate continued volatility but expect a medium-term recovery in optimism.
- The number of bitcoin wallets holding at least 100 BTC has reached a 17-month high (16,120).
In the early hours of Monday, September 2, the price of the leading cryptocurrency dropped below the local support level of $58,000.
At the time of writing, bitcoin is trading at $57,690, having lost 0.9% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum’s daily decline is 1.2%, falling to $2,450.
Among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation, Dogecoin (-3.8%) and BNB (-2.6%) show the largest declines, according to CoinGecko.
According to Coinglass, the total volume of liquidated positions over the past day amounted to $150.9 million, with $123.4 million in longs.
Bitcoin’s decline in August amounted to 8.6%. Historically, digital gold has averaged a 4.5% drop in September. Since 2013, positive dynamics have been recorded in three out of 11 instances.
Technical Outlook
Trader and analyst Rekt Capital takes a balanced view. The expert presented a chart showing the leading cryptocurrency testing the lower boundary of a descending channel.
Bitcoin continues to retest the Channel Bottom
Bitcoin needs to Weekly Close above $58450 to confirm the Channel bottom (black) as support
Retest is still in progress$BTC #Bitcoin https://t.co/4tbcFtQEuF pic.twitter.com/juOeY0Tvta
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) September 1, 2024
“The retest is still ongoing. Bitcoin needs a weekly close above $58,450 to confirm the channel bottom as support,” he wrote.
A trader known as CrypNuevo predicted stop-loss triggers in both directions as part of a “liquidity hunt.”
In a trading perspective, I’m favoring longs so I’d prefer seeing the move down first to hit the liquidations and fill the wick at $56.6k where I could long.
So I’m keeping a long order at that $56.6k level on Sunday & Monday in case we see a false move at the start of the week.
— CrypNuevo ? (@CrypNuevo) September 1, 2024
The specialist pointed to the possibility of a drop to $56,600 due to long liquidations, followed by a recovery to $61,300.
Peter Schiff, President of Euro Pacific Capital, highlighted bitcoin’s weakness relative to gold. He noted that all of the asset’s gains in 2024 occurred in January-February. Despite the launch of 11 BTC-ETFs, the price of the leading cryptocurrency fell by 8%, while the precious metal rose by 23%.
We are now eight months into 2024, and all of Bitcoin’s gains for the year occurred during the first two months. Since the end of Feb., despite the launch of 11 Bitcoin ETFs, #Bitcoin is down 8%. Over the same six months, the price of #gold is up 23%. The momentum has turned.
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) September 1, 2024
Bitcoin Whale Balances
The number of bitcoin wallets holding at least 100 BTC has reached a 17-month high (16,120). In August, 283 more addresses joined this category, according to Santiment.
? As crypto prices have let retail traders down, Bitcoin whales are growing in number. A net gain of +283 wallets holding at least 100 BTC has emerged in just 1 month. The now 16,120 such wallets on the network has broken a 17-month high. pic.twitter.com/DcAU0W01Pk
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) August 31, 2024
According to the service, the number of coins in wallets holding between 10 BTC and 10,000 BTC increased by 133,000 BTC (~$7.6 billion).
Blockstream CEO Adam Back noted the accumulation of bitcoins by whales.
@bitfinex whales back buying 450btc/day every minute all day long, since dip on 28th. same as bitcoin mined per day. go ahead sell them cheap corn 🙂 pic.twitter.com/LcgMmaesh7
— Adam Back (@adam3us) August 30, 2024
“They are buying 450 BTC a day […] after the dip on August 28. The same amount as mined daily,” he emphasised.
Vivek Sen, founder of Bitgrow Lab, noted that historically significant whale purchases often preceded new ATH for bitcoin.
The last time whales bought a lot, #Bitcoin hit a new ATH ? pic.twitter.com/yEnydk0S1P
— Vivek⚡️ (@Vivek4real_) September 1, 2024
Back on August 29, the aggregate balance of the leading cryptocurrency on centralised platforms fell to a new yearly low, according to CryptoQuant. Experts also noted an increase in the flow of coins to US-based platforms, which “historically correlates with price increases.”
Earlier, Real Vision analyst Jamie Coutts predicted a “mad season” for bitcoin with a target of $150,000.