Crypto markets may be in the depths of a lengthening bear market, but that provides the perfect environment to accumulate Bitcoin for those with conviction that there will be a recovery.

This is exactly what has been happening, according to CryptoQuant’s CEO, Ki Young Ju, who posted his findings on Oct. 20. The metrics reveal that Binance has the highest volume of BTC spot trading for the world’s premier crypto asset.

“Since Bitcoin price hit the $20k level, Binance spot trading volume dominance skyrocketed, and it’s now 84%,” he noted.

Whales are accumulating $BTC in #Binance.

Since #Bitcoin price hit the $20k level, @Binance spot trading volume dominance skyrocketed, and it’s now 84%. The second biggest is Coinbase, 9%.

Not sure whether these whales are institutions using prime brokers or crypto OGs for now. pic.twitter.com/544NJo9T1z

— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) October 19, 2022

Bitcoin Spot Volumes Increasing

U.S. crypto exchange giant Coinbase only had 9% of the volume dominance and lagged way behind Binance. Ki Young Ju added that he wasn’t sure whether the whales were institutions using brokers or just “crypto OGs.”

More importantly, was the revelation that BTC spot trading volumes for all exchanges have increased twenty times over the past six months as its price has fallen then flattened.

“The volume renewed a year-high last month, but not much change in the daily closed price, indicating someone(s) is buying all the sell-side liquidity.”

Binance does offer zero-fee trading, taking just the spread on the transactions, whereas Coinbase has some of the highest fees in the industry. This could suggest that the volumes are retail-driven rather than institutional.

On Oct. 20, Glassnode reported that the number of Bitcoin addresses sending the asset to exchanges just reached a two-year low of 4,323.

📉 #Bitcoin $BTC Number of Addresses Sending to Exchanges (7d MA) just reached a 23-month low of 4,323.476

View metric:https://t.co/sqthvgWMgl pic.twitter.com/qXD5gxktSG

— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) October 19, 2022

Bitcoin is usually sent to exchanges in preparation to sell, so these lows also suggest that an accumulation phase is underway.

According to Senior Commodity Strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, Mike McGlone, Bitcoin could be entering its “unstoppable maturation” stage as a nascent technology.

BTC Price Update

Bitcoin daily markets are still heavily bearish, with the asset having lost 1.4% on the day in another pullback to the $19K zone.

BTC prices actually dropped to a weekly low of $18,976 during the Thursday morning Asian trading session but managed to recover marginally.

It has been trading sideways for around four months with strong barriers of resistance and support. However, analysts are leaning towards a final capitulation event as the chart becomes uncannily similar to that of the 2018 bear market which saw its final flush out in November.