The spot trading activity of Bitcoin (BTC) on centralized exchanges reached its highest point since the past year on Tuesday. The collective daily trading volume surged to over $46 billion, indicating a notable uptick in interest from retail investors in acquiring the leading crypto asset.
Spot Bitcoin Trading Volume Attains Yearly High
After reaching this peak, Bitcoin’s spot trading volume declined to about $31.3 billion 24 hours later. On-chain data shows that Binance accounted for more than 74% of this daily trading volume, making it the number one among other crypto exchanges.
In her analysis, Bitwise quantitative research associate Mallika Kollar highlighted that spot BTC trading volume has increased by approximately 680% since the start of 2024, highlighting the significant rise in BTC purchases. Interestingly, the highest-volume trading session of the year so far coincided with an unprecedented daily inflow of funds into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking spot Bitcoin.
Earlier in the week, the top ten Bitcoin ETFs listed in the United States exceeded the previous week’s record of $7.7 billion daily trading volume, totaling a notable $10 billion. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated that these results were remarkable accomplishments for ETFs that had only been in operation for less than two months.
Analysts opined that the significant increase in trading volumes across numerous exchanges and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) was primarily responsible for Bitcoin’s price rise to an all-time high of $69,200 on March 5.
Surge In Bitcoin Retail Interest In South Korea
Meanwhile, South Korea’s retail interest in BTC was notable, with BTC’s value peaking at $72,000 (KRW/USD exchange rate) on Upbit, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, on March 5. Since early February, this price disparity, known as the Kimchi Premium or Korea Premium Index, has shown a positive trend with the Bitcoin price.
Given the lack of authorized spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in South Korea, retail spot purchase continues to be the primary driver of the premium witnessed in the region.
BTC Addresses Attains Record High
In a related development, Coinglass data indicates that the number of addresses holding Bitcoin worth a minimum of $10 has surpassed 35 million, an unprecedented milestone. This significant increase signifies a substantial rise in the participation of retail investors in the cryptocurrency market, especially BTC.
With the increasing attention from retail users, there continues to be a notable surge in online search activity for Bitcoin. Google Trends data (From March 3 to March 9) indicates that the average number of global Bitcoin searches was eighty.
This value signifies a surge of more than 31% in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year when BTC’s price was approximately $20,000. An additional indication of the increased activity is the Bitcoin transfers to the leading US crypto exchange, Coinbase, which are approaching volumes comparable to 2022.