The final quarter of 2023 has been a rollercoaster for Bitcoin, reaching a 19-month high of $44,700 on December 16. Despite a subsequent pullback, on-chain analysis firm CryptoQuant reports that Bitcoin remains in a bull market, dismissing any bear market concerns. Here are eight significant signals indicating the bull market is not over for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin network difficulty reached an all-time high of approximately 68 T on November 26, due to the increasing number of miners securing the network. Interestingly, block production time spiked to 66 minutes right after a block took 43 minutes to be mined, reflecting intense competition among miners to keep up with the added hash power ensuring timely block production every ten minutes.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm, has been working towards offering a regulated spot Bitcoin ETF since June, marking a historic moment for the leading cryptocurrency. After initially dismissing Bitcoin as a legitimate asset, BlackRock has shifted its stance and is now actively seeking to provide a Bitcoin ETF to its clients.
Despite Bitcoin’s recent outperformance, about 70% of its circulating supply, or 13.65 million BTC, has not moved for a year or longer, indicating a strong belief among investors that the bull market will not end soon. This showcases the high proportion of long-term holders in the asset class.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group) has surpassed Binance in Bitcoin futures open interest (OI), highlighting sustained institutional interest in Bitcoin. CME’s Bitcoin futures OI has exceeded Binance’s for the first time since the 2021 bull market, with CME continuing to lead in December.
In November, the CME markets signaled a rare bullish indicator for Bitcoin futures: Contango, where the futures price is higher than the spot price. This condition, especially with double-digit contango, is considered a strong sign of an impending surge in Bitcoin prices.
While regulated investors chase gains with high leverage in Bitcoin futures, “whale” investors continue to buy large amounts of Bitcoin from the small moving supply. The number of whale-level wallet addresses has increased, with some whales accumulating significant unrealized profits. Additionally, analysts are bullish on Bitcoin’s price chart, pointing to a “Flag Channel” formation that has historically signaled parabolic price increases in previous four-year BTC cycles. High price predictions for Bitcoin continue to emerge, with some expecting it to reach $700,000 by 2024 or 2025.