Bitcoin (BTC) saw a surge in spot trading volume on centralized exchanges on March 5, reaching its highest level in the past year. The combined daily volume reached $46.26 billion, indicating an increase in retail investors purchasing the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The following day, the spot trading volume cooled down to $31.32 billion, with Binance accounting for over 74% of the daily volume, equivalent to $18 billion.
According to Mallika Kollar, a quantitative research associate at Bitwise, there has been a significant uptick in spot trading volume, with an increase of almost 680% since the beginning of the year.
The record trading volume for the year also coincided with a new all-time high in daily inflows for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US. The 10 US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a daily trading volume of $10 billion on March 5, surpassing the previous record of $7.7 billion set the week before.
The soaring trading volumes across exchanges and ETFs contributed to Bitcoin’s price reaching a new all-time high of over $69,200 on March 5. As of 1:30 pm UTC, the price of Bitcoin was up 1.09% in the previous 24 hours, trading at $66,878.
Retail interest in Bitcoin is also rising in South Korea, where the price of Bitcoin reached as high as $72,000 (based on the KRW/USD exchange rate) on Upbit, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. This price difference, known as the Kimchi premium or Korea premium index, has been increasing in line with the rise in Bitcoin’s price since early February.
The number of Bitcoin addresses holding at least $10 worth of the cryptocurrency reached a new all-time high of over 35 million on March 6, indicating increased participation from retail investors.
In line with the growing retail interest, online search trends for Bitcoin have also remained elevated. Google Trends data shows that worldwide searches for Bitcoin averaged 80 between March 3 and March 9, a 31% increase compared to the same period last year when the price was around $20,000.
Furthermore, the number of Bitcoin transfers to Coinbase, the largest US-based exchange, is approaching its 2022 highs. This suggests that investors may be preparing to take profits at the current price levels. However, it is worth noting that previous spikes in transfers have not only occurred during bull market tops, as seen in 2016-2017.
Please note that this article does not provide investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading decisions involve risks, and readers should conduct their own research before making any decisions.