BTC Liquidity Tightens as Bitcoin Held by Exchanges Hits 6-Month Low

While the price of bitcoin is 38% lower than its $69K price high three months ago, the amount of bitcoin on exchanges is at its lowest figure since April 2021. At the end of July last year, there was 2.59 million bitcoin held by crypto trading platforms, and today there’s only 2.36 million held by exchanges, which means there’s 8.8% fewer bitcoin on exchanges than six months ago.

Bitcoin Exchange Reserves Drop 8% Lower Than the Bitcoin Held on Exchanges 6 Months Ago

According to current statistics, there’s 2.363 million bitcoin, or $100 billion worth, of the leading crypto asset held on exchanges. The current value of the bitcoin (BTC) held by centralized exchanges equates to 12.36% of BTC’s overall $809 billion market capitalization.

While 2.363 million is a significant fraction, it’s 8.88% less than the number of bitcoins held on exchanges on July 25, 2021. Too many crypto market participants, and the fact that there’s less BTC on exchanges means less selling pressure going forward.

Metrics indicate that the last time bitcoin exchange reserves were this low was ten months ago, back in April 2021. Combined statistics from Bituniverse, Peckshield, Etherscan, and Chain.info show that the exchange Coinbase holds the most bitcoin (BTC) today with 853,530 BTC held in reserves.

The value of Coinbase’s BTC holdings equates to 35% of the current $100 billion worth of BTC held on exchanges. Binance is the second-largest bitcoin holder, in terms of exchanges, with 339,870 BTC worth $14.5 billion using current bitcoin exchange rates.

Ethereum Exchange Reserves Plummet, Miners Sell Holdings

Meanwhile, the same can be said about the number of ethereum (ETH) held on centralized exchanges. Data from cryptoquant.com shows there’s 17 million ether held on exchanges today, but that amount has been sliding significantly since May 2021. In May last year, crypto exchanges held 21.9 million ethereum.

This means roughly 22.37% of the ETH held on exchanges has left the market environment for alternative solutions. On the other hand, much of the ETH that has left centralized exchanges since last May could have been transferred to decentralized exchange (dex) platforms.

Currently, the most active crypto exchange in terms of ether trade volume, Binance, holds 3.59 million ETH in reserves. While less BTC and ETH on exchanges could lead to less selling pressure, metrics show that BTC miners have been selling bitcoin.

Miner holdings, according to Glassnode data, went negative on February 5, 2022, for the first time in two months. At the time of writing, cryptoquant.com statistics indicate there’s roughly 1.86 million BTC held by mining entities.