BTC Retreats as Digital Assets Sell Off: Markets Wrap

Bitcoin breaks below $48,000 as daily exchange volumes and network activity remain stagnant

article-image

A piece by WARHODL whose work was on display at the Bitcoin 2021 Art Gallery

share
  • Daily exchange volumes are down from the highs seen in May of 2021
  • Activity on the Bitcoin network has been flat to down throughout 2021

The number of BTC wallet addresses holding 10 or more BTC has been in a downtrend since the end of 2020.

Daily exchange volume has yet to return to levels seen earlier in 2021 as they hover in the $25 billion to $50 billion range.

Active addresses on the Bitcoin network are down from 1.2 million at the beginning of 2021 to 995,000 today.

$120.87 million of long positions have been liquidated over the last 24 hours as a result of today’s BTC price action.

Latest in Macro:

  • S&P 500: 4,786, -0.10%
  • NASDAQ: 15,781, -0.56%
  • Gold: $1,805, -0.36%
  • WTI Crude Oil: $75.99, +0.56%
  • 10-Year Treasury: 1.482%, +0.001%

Latest in Crypto:

  • BTC: $47,844, -6.70%
  • ETH: $3,831, -6.40%
  • ETH/BTC: 0.0800, +0.73%
  • BTC.D: 39.95%, -0.27%

Declining exchange volume

Daily exchange volume has yet to return to levels seen earlier in 2021 as they hover in the $25 billion to $50 billion range, according to data from The Block.

Source: The Block

Stagnant activity on the Bitcoin network

Active addresses on the Bitcoin network are down from 1.2 million at the beginning of 2021 to 995,000 today, according to data from Glassnode.

Source: Glassnode

While institutional interest was a common narrative over 2021, the number of BTC wallet addresses holding 10 or more BTC has been in a downtrend since the end of 2020, according to data from Glassnode, as smart money took profits into price strength.

Source: Glassnode

“…We are still digesting a large loss of active wallets from China and non-China growth, therefore, [the addition of new wallets needs to be greater than the loss of active wallets from China] to exceed that loss of accounts for the network to re-grow too. Likely a matter of time,” wrote Raoul Pal, founder of Global Macro Investor. “Additionally, I didn’t mention that institutional rebalancing, tax-related selling and hedgies squaring books has also added to year-end weakness. This is more temporary, most likely”.

Liquidations

$120.87 million of long positions have been liquidated over the last 24 hours as a result of today’s BTC price action, according to data from Coinglass.

Source: Coinglass

BTC futures open interest sits at $19.22 billion, according to Coinglass, so there are plenty of long side positions that are yet to be liquidated.

Source: Coinglass

NFTs

Trading data from OpenSea and Solanalysis of some of the top Solana and Ethereum projects can be found below:

Top Ethereum Projects
Top Solana Projects

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I am looking forward to catching up tomorrow.


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Hilton Park Lane

Tues - Wed, November 10 - 11, 2026

DAS London is a two-day summit at the Hilton Park Lane in London featuring conversations between the builders, allocators, and policy makers who are shaping the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the UK, Europe, and North America.

Marina Bay Sands Singapore

Wednesday, October 07, 2026

DAS Asia is a a single-day summit at Marina Bay Sands Singapore featuring conversations between the builders, investors, and global leaders are shaping the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in Asia & North America.

recent research

EthenaNextAct.jpg

Research

The basis trade built Ethena, but it is unlikely to power the next phase of growth on its own. As yields compress and TVL declines, Ethena is evolving from a single strategy product into a diversified yield curator. In this report, I evaluate the protocol's proposed reserve changes, the implications for USDe yields, and why Coinbase may become Ethena's most important growth catalyst.

Newsletter

The Breakdown

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Blockworks Research

Unlock crypto's most powerful research platform.

Our research packs a punch and gives you actionable takeaways for each topic.

SubscribeGet in touch

Blockworks Inc.

133 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011

Blockworks Network

NewsPodcastsNewslettersEventsRoundtablesAnalytics