Bitcoin Price Surges Past $104K As Institutional Buying Rises
By: the market periodical|2025/05/16 07:45:05
0
Share
Key Insights:Spot market buying pressure surges, flipping key Glassnode index.Large holders intensify accumulation, smaller wallets reduce exposure.Market structure shows a breakout phase following recent manipulation.Bitcoin price momentum strengthened notably over the past week, briefly climbing from below $96,000 to exceed $104,000. The sharp upward movement marked the highest level observed since mid-April.After reaching its peak, BTC price action showed some volatility but stayed largely above $102,000, indicating a stable support base. Despite the upward trend, recent on-chain data reveals a deeper complexity in the Bitcoin market.Institutional accumulation, net buying pressure, and market structure shifts are crucial. These factors shape the market beyond what price movements alone suggest.Bitcoin Spot Volume Surge and Institutional AccumulationA recent update from Glassnode shows that the Spot Volume Delta 7-day SMA, a key Bitcoin index, has flipped positive. It reached a local peak of $5 billion on May 13.This metric measures the difference between spot market buy and sell volumes across major exchanges. It turned positive for the first time in several weeks. The surge indicates significant net buying pressure, signaling strong spot market activity.Spot Volume Delta | Source: GlassnodeNotably, Glassnode stated that the move above $100,000 has been supported by absolute market conviction rather than speculative derivatives. The Spot Volume Delta has flipped positive only a few times this year. Each instance has aligned with significant Bitcoin price movements.This indicates strong buyer demand in the Bitcoin market. However, similar historical patterns have occasionally led to sharp corrections due to fear-of-missing-out behavior.According to other on-chain data, this rise in spot volume has been accompanied by sustained accumulation by larger investors.Institutional Accumulation at Elevated PricesBitcoin Accumulation Trend Score chart, published by Glassnode, highlights strong buying activity. Analyst Ali Martinez shared that high-net-worth investors have accumulated significantly. This trend has continued throughout May 2025.This chart tracks Bitcoin’s price alongside a heatmap score ranging from 0 to 1. Scores closer to 1 reflect intensive accumulation by large holders, while lower values indicate weak accumulation or distribution.Bitcoin Accumulation Trend Score | Source: XBy May 13, BTC price had reached $104,155.31, and the accumulation trend score recorded a high of 0.976876. This level signals substantial accumulation activity, even at elevated prices.Dark purple zones on the chart, indicating accumulation by larger entities, suggest consistent buying pressure from institutional investors or long-term holders.The data from Santiment supports this on-chain pattern. Large Bitcoin holders with wallets containing between 10 and 10,000 BTC collectively purchased 83,105 Bitcoins in the past 30 days. This significant accumulation highlights strong investor confidence in the market.Source: XThe combined value of these purchases totals about $8.65 Billion. Smaller wallets holding less than 0.1 BTC sold 387 BTC during the same period. This suggests profit-taking behavior by retail investors amid a larger accumulation trend.However, Santiment also identified what could be the key catalyst: a recent freeze on the trade tariff between the U.S. and China. This geopolitical event could have decreased uncertainty, providing for increased accumulation and a possible move towards $110,000.Price Structure Indicates More Expansion.As demand and accumulation increase, analyst Jelle analyzed a lower-timeframe chart. His findings highlight a “Power of Three” price structure commonly used to track smart money movements. This structure helps outline accumulation trends and market growth.Bitcoin Price Prediction | Source: XAccording to the chart, between May 9 and May 12, Bitcoin traded within a narrow consolidation range. This accumulation phase was followed by a sharp drop on May 13, representing the manipulation stage.It is a temporary move below prior support levels designed to create liquidity. This was succeeded by a rapid reversal and a break above the previous range, initiating the expansion phase.The post-manipulation breakout saw Bitcoin reclaim the $104,000 level, continuing its upward momentum. Jelle’s chart outlines a target area near $112,000 if the expansion phase continues.Bitcoin could be entering a new phase of price discovery. It may reach levels that have not been seen in the current cycle.DisclaimerIn this article, the views, and opinions stated by the author, or any people named are for informational purposes only, and they don’t establish the investment, financial, or any other advice. Trading or investing in cryptocurrency assets comes with a risk of financial loss.godfrey mwirigiThe post Bitcoin Price Surges Past $104K As Institutional Buying Rises appeared first on The Market Periodical.
You may also like

Why did the star Web3 project Across Protocol choose to abandon DAO?
The proposal for Across to privatize itself is a rare move, but it comes at a time when the industry is beginning to recognize that DAOs are a difficult organizational structure to operate.

In fact, ETH scaling is a major benefit for L2
ETH has finally admitted defeat—its Rollup-centric roadmap is unworkable, while the monolithic scaling solutions adopted by blockchains like Solana have proven to be correct.

Memories: 10 Key Contributions of the TON Core Team That Few People Knew in the Early Days
Every line of code, every tool we build, every sleepless night spent maintaining the network—these efforts have laid the foundation for TON's development today.

2025 South Korea CEX Listing Post-Mortem: Investing in New Coins = 70% Loss?
The 2025 South Korean exchange's new token listing performance is structurally similar to Binance's, with no significant differences.

BIP-360 Analysis: Bitcoin's First Step Towards Quantum Immunity, But Why Only the "First Step"?
This article explains how BIP-360 reshapes Bitcoin's quantum defense strategy, analyzes its enhancements, and discusses why it has not yet achieved full post-quantum security.

50 million USDT exchanged for 35,000 USD AAVE: How did the disaster happen? Who should we blame?
Due to a fatal flaw in the transaction path, a $50 million DeFi operation was executed with almost zero protection, resulting in nearly the entire amount of funds evaporating in a tiny liquidity pool.

The Cryptographic Past of the Middle East
Reality is often more exciting than fiction.

Resolving the Intergenerational Prisoner's Dilemma: The Inevitable Path of Nomadic Capital Bitcoin
When the baby boomer generation collectively sells off, who will become the "greater fool" in the next round of asset crashes?

Who Will Control AI? Why Decentralized AI May Be the Only Alternative to Government and Big Tech
AI has become critical infrastructure, and governments and corporations are competing to control it. Centralized development and regulation are entrenching existing power structures. The Web3 community is building a decentralized alternative — distributed compute, token incentives, and community governance — before that window closes.

Vitalik wrote a proposal teaching you how to secretly use AI large models
Vitalik believes that in the AI era, users should not have to give up their identity to use an AI tool.

On the eve of the explosion of on-chain options
Options are becoming a new anchor in the cryptocurrency market.

WEEX AI Hackathon: How Did This AI Trading Winner Succeed?
A self-taught AI trading enthusiast achieved top-10 results at the WEEX AI Hackathon. Learn about the mindset, AI tools, and lessons behind this impressive performance.

One Balance to Rule Them All: Gravitas' On-Chain Prime Broker Ambition
Forty years ago, a technological revolution broke the isolation of information, reshaping Wall Street. Forty years later, Grvt aims to break the isolation of capital with an on-chain prime brokerage model.

That person who cashed out at the NFT peak is now selling a new shovel in the OpenClaw craze
A skilled person never picks the table, they eat meat with every bite.

Inter-generational Prisoner's Dilemma Resolution: The Nomadic Capital and Bitcoin's Inevitable Path
When the Baby Boomer generation collectively sells off, who will be the "bag holder" in the next asset crash?

Upstream and downstream are starting to fight, all for the sake of everyone being able to "Lobster"
「Lobster」 may not be a mature product yet, but it has already ushered in a new era of 「AI Assistants」.

Circle and Mastercard Announce Partnership, the Next Stage for the Crypto Industry Belongs to Payments
Stablecoins are transitioning from a speculative tool to real financial scenarios such as payments, cross-border transfers, and store of value.

From 5 Mao per kWh of Chinese electricity to a $45 API export: Tokens are rewriting currency units
When the same unit can both measure hashing power and facilitate payments, it ceases to be just a term and begins to evolve into a new currency of both value and influence.
Why did the star Web3 project Across Protocol choose to abandon DAO?
The proposal for Across to privatize itself is a rare move, but it comes at a time when the industry is beginning to recognize that DAOs are a difficult organizational structure to operate.
In fact, ETH scaling is a major benefit for L2
ETH has finally admitted defeat—its Rollup-centric roadmap is unworkable, while the monolithic scaling solutions adopted by blockchains like Solana have proven to be correct.
Memories: 10 Key Contributions of the TON Core Team That Few People Knew in the Early Days
Every line of code, every tool we build, every sleepless night spent maintaining the network—these efforts have laid the foundation for TON's development today.
2025 South Korea CEX Listing Post-Mortem: Investing in New Coins = 70% Loss?
The 2025 South Korean exchange's new token listing performance is structurally similar to Binance's, with no significant differences.
BIP-360 Analysis: Bitcoin's First Step Towards Quantum Immunity, But Why Only the "First Step"?
This article explains how BIP-360 reshapes Bitcoin's quantum defense strategy, analyzes its enhancements, and discusses why it has not yet achieved full post-quantum security.
50 million USDT exchanged for 35,000 USD AAVE: How did the disaster happen? Who should we blame?
Due to a fatal flaw in the transaction path, a $50 million DeFi operation was executed with almost zero protection, resulting in nearly the entire amount of funds evaporating in a tiny liquidity pool.