It looks like Bitcoin small wallets, aka shrimps are feeling pretty optimistic, because a crypto analyst shared that wallets holding less than 1 BTC are projected to increase by about 9% in the near future.
Small game, big game, the numbers go up
These so-called small holders are showing strong confidence in Bitcoin’s upward trajectory, just like the biggest players, the whales.
Axel Adler from CryptoQuant shared this insight in a post on X, and noted that despite their small holdings, these investors aren’t backing down at all.
The average number of addresses holding less than 1 BTC currently stands at 323K (with BTC priced at $101K).
This growth began when BTC was at $61K, at which point there were 265K such addresses. Since then, the number of addresses has increased by 21.9%.
Despite being labeled… pic.twitter.com/gK0AwOPWd1
— Axel 💎🙌 Adler Jr (@AxelAdlerJr) December 14, 2024
Shrimps, or small wallets are a key indicator of retail interest in Bitcoin. Right now, there are about 323,000 addresses holding less than 1 BTC, and Adler expects this number to jump to 351,000 soon.
He explained that this growth started when Bitcoin was trading around $61,000, and since then, the number of these addresses has already increased by more than 20%.
Long-term holders are selling off
While the smalls are busy accumulating, long-term holders, those who have kept their Bitcoin for at least 155 days, have been offloading their assets, and based on the new data, these long-term holders sold off 827,783 BTC just over the past month.
Some analysts even suggest that this strong selling could signal a market peak, potentially leading to a bearish trend as buy-side demand starts to dwindle.
But on the other hand, one analysis points out that any near-term dips in Bitcoin’s price probably won’t be as severe as the 10% drop we saw at the beginning of December.
The selling pressure has eased considerably since Bitcoin first went above six figures.
Sellers will stop eventually
Bitfinex analysts noted in a market report that with the decline in realized profits and reduced selling pressure, we can expect future price drops to be less drastic than last week’s plunge.
While small wallets are on the rise and retail investors clearly remain confident in Bitcoin’s future, long-term holders seem to be cashing out.
