Bitcoin’s Path Ahead Uncertain Amid Weakness in Key Areas
Following a brief period of hope earlier this month, Bitcoin [BTC] has struggled to maintain its positive momentum, falling below the $100,000 threshold and remaining stagnant in recent days.
The digital currency has shown limited upward movement, currently priced at $92,790, indicating a 13.2% decrease over the past two weeks.
At this level, Bitcoin is trading 14.2% lower than its peak of $108,135 reached earlier in December.
This underwhelming performance has sparked worries among investors, with both trading volume and retail interest experiencing a visible decline.
One significant contributing factor to this subdued performance is the notable decrease in Bitcoin trading volume on Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Over the last week, trading on both spot and Futures BTC/USDT pairs has dramatically reduced.
Shifting Retail Activity Signals
Aside from trading volume, other essential metrics provide additional insights into Bitcoin’s current market dynamics.
Data from Coinglass reveals that Bitcoin’s Open Interest, which represents the total value of active futures contracts, has dropped by 2.58% to around $57.66 billion.
This decline indicates diminishing interest from Futures traders, often seen as a sign of reduced speculative engagement.
Conversely, Bitcoin’s Open Interest volume has surged by 71.7%, now standing at $109.92 billion.
This uptick implies that although fewer traders are actively participating, those who are involved are taking larger positions, potentially signaling confidence in future price movements.
Looking ahead, Bitcoin’s active address count provides a glimpse into retail engagement and on-chain activities. Active addresses represent the number of unique Bitcoin addresses engaged in transactions on any given day.
In early December, active addresses decreased to 787,000 before rising to 984,000 on December 10th.
However, the activity dipped to 700,000 by December 25th before slightly rebounding to 826,000 by December 30th.
This fluctuating pattern indicates inconsistent retail interest, characterized by brief spikes in activity followed by sharp declines.
Such fluctuations point to a lack of sustained retail enthusiasm, a factor critical for propelling Bitcoin’s price upwards in bullish cycles.