Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) exchange reserves are back near record lows as 2022 sparks renewed appetite among buyers.<\/p>\n Data from on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant shows<\/a> reserves across 21 exchanges at 2.308 million BTC as of Jan. 4.<\/p>\n Late December saw a macro low of 2.303 million BTC left on exchanges\u2019 books, CryptoQuant recorded, before a brief uptick to 2.334 million.<\/p>\n As institutional entities return to the market after the holiday period, however, the downtrend has resumed; this is in line with expectations<\/a> that larger-volume buyers would step in beginning in Q1.<\/p>\n Exchange balance data is a topic of some debate this week. Different statistics sources use varying numbers of exchanges and wallets, resulting in data that is barely comparable.<\/p>\n CryptoQuant\u2019s 21 exchanges, for example, compete with 18 monitored by Glassnode and five by CoinMetrics.<\/p>\n Another resource, Cryptorank, put the balance at just 1.3 million BTC<\/a> on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n Depending on the platforms included, the trend may also be different, as some exchanges have seen an overall reduction in their balance over the past month, while others have seen an increase.<\/p>\n If you leave out exchanges it skews the results. Leaving out eg. Huobi has a huge impact because of the China spot trading ban.https:\/\/t.co\/knyoF702kW<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Root (@therationalroot) January 3, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n As Cointelegraph reported, this was the case with Huobi Global, which was obliged to deregister Chinese mainland users<\/a> by the end of 2021 in line with regulations.<\/p>\n In a discussion with CryptoQuant last week, analyst David Puell, creator of the well-known Puell Multiple indicator,\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0his thoughts on upcoming market participant behavior.<\/p>\nExchanges return to overall BTC balance downtrend<\/h2>\n
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Bigger fish to run the show<\/h2>\n