Bitcoin’s trading volume and active addresses reach new all-time highs despite the cryptocurrency’s price struggling in recent days
Trading volumes and active addresses on the Bitcoin (BTC) network have surpassed the previous all-time highs recorded during the last market bull run in 2017. This latest data gives some analysts confidence that the current bull market for Bitcoin hasn’t come to an end.
According to the data obtained from CryptoCompare, the BTC trading volume on eight major crypto exchanges tracked by CoinDesk 20 (Coinbase, Bitfinex, Kraken, Bitstamp, Poloniex, ItBit, Gemini and bitFlyer) surpassed $11 billion. This is a new all-time high (ATH) from the previous record set during Bitcoin’s 2017 bull market.
The surging volume created excitement despite the struggling BTC price. Bendik Norheim Schei, head of research at Arcane Research, told CoinDesk that the surging volume shows that Bitcoin has become a much more significant and mature asset. Schei added that it is good to see higher volumes as it makes the market more efficient and liquid.
Bitcoin’s price has faltered over the past few days, dropping below the $32,000 mark after reaching a new high of $40,000 less than a week ago. However, Schei believes the surging volume is attributed to newcomers who took advantage of Monday’s sell-off to enter the market at lower prices.
The analyst explained that new and inexperienced investors panic when the price starts falling, failing to understand that the corrections are necessary and healthy, even in a bull market. Bitcoin’s price was slowly recovering and was trading close to $35,000 per coin at the time of this report.
Bitcoin active addresses reach new all-time high
Similarly, the number of active Bitcoin addresses reached a new ATH on 8 January. Data obtained from Glassnode showed that the number of active addresses on the Bitcoin blockchain surpassed the previous figures.
At its highest point last week, the network had over 1.3 million active addresses in a single day. Glassnode wrote that the continued increase in active addresses shows an impressive level of new adoption and activity for the cryptocurrency. Thus, suggesting that the number of market participants in the Bitcoin network might be higher than in the past.
Bitcoin’s market cap was reduced to its current $647 billion (from nearly $750 billion) during the recent correction. Bitcoin remains the most dominant cryptocurrency, controlling 68.5% of the entire crypto market volume.