Bitcoin, rebounding powerfully from its bear market lows, has reasserted itself as a leading asset, significantly outperforming traditional financial markets in 2024.
Fueled by the historic launch of Bitcoin ETFs in January, a new US administration seemingly supportive of the crypto industry, and the Federal Reserve’s shift toward easing monetary policy, Bitcoin’s resurgence has been remarkable.
Bitcoin ETFs: a catalyst for growth
The Bitcoin ETFs, launched earlier this year, have been a major catalyst, attracting substantial capital inflows and becoming the most successful ETF launches in history, surpassing $100 billion in assets under management within their first year.
This influx of funds has propelled Bitcoin to a year-to-date return of +126%, dwarfing the S&P 500 (+26%), NASDAQ (+33%), and even gold (+28%).
While Bitcoin’s price volatility often captures headlines, the underlying mechanisms that determine its value—supply and demand—are transparent thanks to its public blockchain, and offer valuable insights for investors.
Five key indicators for 2025
As we move into 2025, investors can leverage key indicators to effectively navigate the bull market.
Here are five that are particularly relevant:
- Exchange balances and net flows: gauging market sentiment
Centralized exchanges serve as the hub for Bitcoin trading activity, making exchange balances a crucial indicator of market sentiment. Active traders store their Bitcoin on these platforms to quickly capitalize on price changes, and a current 2.5 million Bitcoin, or 12.6% of the circulating supply, are held on centralized exchanges. This marks a 17% reduction since the start of the year, when 3 million coins were stored on these platforms. The decline suggests that holders may be moving their Bitcoin to private wallets for long-term storage, signaling increased confidence in Bitcoin’s value and reduced selling interest. As market peaks approach, expect the trend to reverse. Rising exchange balances are an indicator of increased selling pressure, while declining balances tend to indicate bullish sentiment. - MVRV Z-score: identifying market extremes
The MVRV Z-Score is a powerful on-chain valuation tool that helps investors identify potential market extremes, whether overvalued or undervalued. This indicator compares Bitcoin’s market value with its realized value to smooth out short-term price fluctuations and focus on long-term trends. The Z-Score highlights significant deviations, rising into the pink zone when Bitcoin is likely overvalued and dropping into the green zone when it is undervalued. This makes it a crucial indicator for timing investments in Bitcoin’s volatile cycles. Currently, the MVRV Z-Score is below 3, which suggests Bitcoin is not yet overheated. Historically, a Z-Score above 6 is a warning sign, and above 7 has often coincided with a market cycle top. - 1+ year HODL wave: tracking long-term holders
The 1+ Year HODL Wave analyzes the age distribution of Bitcoin holdings to assess market sentiment. It tracks the percentage of Bitcoin that has remained untouched in wallets for at least a year, and helps to reflect the psychology of long-term holders. During market peaks, long-term holders often start selling their coins, causing the percentage of 1+ year coins to decline. Conversely, this percentage increases during bearish phases, indicating reduced selling pressure and longer term conviction. Investors can leverage this information by keeping an eye out for sharp decreases in the percentage of long-term held coins, which can often signal the approach of a significant price peak. While long-term holders have started moving coins, previous cycles suggest there is more to come. - Terminal price: estimating potential cycle tops
The Terminal Price indicator is a sophisticated on-chain metric that estimates potential price peaks by building on the concept of Transferred Price, derived from Coin Days Destroyed (CDD). High CDD values indicate that long-held coins are being moved, often coinciding with price rallies and corrections. Terminal price takes the average CDD across Bitcoin’s existence, multiplies it by 21 million, Bitcoin’s supply cap. Historically, the Terminal Price has reliably signaled the cycle tops, and currently sits at $188,000, and is rising along with Bitcoin’s price. This indicates that if this cycle follows historical trends, a peak above $200,000 is possible. - Google search trends: measuring retail interest
Google Trends, while not an on-chain indicator, provides valuable insight into public interest and retail sentiment. High search activity often corresponds to heightened enthusiasm and price surges, and while Bitcoin recently reached the $100,000 level, search activity remains surprisingly low. The current value of 38 is far below its previous peak of 100, which occurred during the 2021 bull run. This indicates that widespread retail euphoria has not yet arrived, and that there may still be more room to grow. As Bitcoin continues to climb, watch out for an increase in search activity which can signal a market peak.
Bitcoin’s resurgence as a top-performing asset in 2024 highlights its resilience and increasing acceptance.
However, navigating its volatile price action requires a keen understanding of the factors that drive its market cycles.
By leveraging metrics such as exchange balances, MVRV Z-Score, 1+ Year HODL Wave, Terminal Price, and Google search trends, investors can make more informed decisions to capitalize on a bull market, while mitigating the inherent risks.
Staying attuned to these indicators is vital for both seasoned and newcomer investors in 2025, as Bitcoin forges a new path to a new all time high.
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