Bitcoin holders decline as analysts expect a BTC rally above $100,000

There has been a drop in the number of Bitcoin (BTC) holders. The trend observed over the past month comes as several analysts are expecting the flagship crypto to hit six figures.

A July 18 post from analytics firm Santiment states that the number of wallets holding more than zero Bitcoin has dropped. Within a month’s time, 672,510 wallets have been liquidated.

Institutions take over

However, according to the analytics firm, “mass liquidations” such as these indicate a higher probability for “continued rebound.”

Santiment believes traders are reluctant to enter the market at the time because they believe the all-time high reached in March “was as good as it’s going to get in 2024” for the largest cryptocurrency.

Amidst this, Bitcoin has been on a downtrend since early June. However, Ki Young Ju, founder of CryptoQuant, pointed out that whale wallets with more than 1000 BTC, including spot ETFs and custodial wallets, have added 1.45 million BTC.

Ju noted that the weekly total inflow into these wallets surged higher than in 2021 when a mere 70,000 BTC moved into them in a year’s time. Now, over 100,000 BTC is flowing in weekly.

While Bitcoin saw a slight recovery, briefly surpassing $65,000, there have been no major signs of a rebound despite Ju observing institutional accumulation with OTC (over-the-counter) markets “overwhelming” centralized exchange markets.

Bold predictions for Bitcoin

Meanwhile, some crypto analysts are hinting at an upcoming rally for BTC. Pierre Rochard, vice president of research at Riot Platforms, expects Bitcoin to hit $100,000 over the next 12 months.

MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe maintained a slightly bigger target, expecting Bitcoin to hit $110,000 during its next rally. De Poppe noted that Bitcoin’s price has reached a low during this market cycle.

The analyst also attributes his bullish stance to miner capitulation, a pattern observed by several traders. Crypto analyst Cryptonary noted that the end of the miner capitulation period has “historically preceded significant increases in BTC price.” 

The chart shared by Cryptonary showed a whopping 5,110%, 3,346%, and 591% increases post-miner capitulation during the 2012, 2016, and 2020 cycles, respectively. 

Based on this pattern and BTC’s current price above $64,000, the analyst pointed at a $223,000 price target for this cycle.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt, however, observed that BTC had been failing to reach previous highs. Further, each new high recorded was lower than the previous, that’s “despite the halving, despite the ETF, despite the hype.”

Despite this, Brandt stated that he was “impressed” by Bitcoin’s recovery to a crucial support region within two weeks following the drop fuelled by Mt. Gox repayment news and the German government selling its Bitcoin holdings.

Meanwhile, crypto analyst Marco Johanning doesn’t expect BTC to hit the $100,000 price point this cycle. He predicted a price target of “81k or 94k” for Bitcoin.

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