- Bitcoin was 8% shy of its all-time high levels.
- The OI on the CME exchange has more than tripled since October 2023.
Bitcoin [BTC] topped $64k during U.S. evening/early Asia morning hours before quickly reversing back to the $63k zone, as the prized digital asset proceeded swiftly to its all-time high (ATH) levels.
At press time, it was trading at $63,612, 8% shy of the peak, according to CoinMarketCap.
Institutional interest shows no signs of abating
The ongoing rally, powered by strong institutional interest, has sent Bitcoin 43% higher since the start of 2024.
The Open Interest (OI) in BTC Futures on global derivatives exchange CME soared to a record high of $8.7 billion, AMBCrypto discovered using Coinglass data.
The OI on the exchange has more than tripled since the rally picked up steam in October 2023.
Source: Coinglass
For the curious, CME’s standard Futures contract is worth five BTCs and is seen as a barometer of institutional interest in cryptocurrencies.
It was the largest Bitcoin futures exchange as of this writing, cornering nearly 30% of the investments made into Bitcoin derivatives.
Whale holdings rise
Growing institutional interest was also evident in the steady increase in whale holdings.
According to AMBCrypto’s examination of Glassnode’s data, entities holding at least 1K coins rose nearly 5% year-to-date (YTD), and over 7% since October 2o23.
Whales generally trade in large blocks of assets, thereby exerting significant influence on price movements. The strong buying pressure was clearly a bullish driver for BTC.
Source: Glassnode
Is a correction around the corner?
The optimism was also seen in the positions taken by whales in Bitcoin’s futures market. As per Hyblock Capital, whales had higher long exposure than retail investors on leading exchange Binance at press time.
Read Bitcoin’s [BTC] Price Prediction 2024-25
However, the trend indicated that whales have been reducing their long exposure over the past week. This could be because they were anticipating a sharp correction in the days to come.
Source: Hyblock Capital
In an X (formerly Twitter) post on the 3rd of March, technical analyst Ali Martinez highlighted the importance of the $61,100 — $61,800 level as support, saying,
“If Bitcoin remains above this threshold, it’s poised to climb towards $65,900, given the minimal resistance ahead. Conversely, should BTC dip below support, a correction could lead it down to $56,970 or even $51,500.”