• Bitcoin (BTC) price surged above $20,000 in the second week of January resulting in a market FOMO among small BTC holders.
• 620,000 new BTC addresses have popped up since the Jan. 13 BTC price surge, totaling 39.8 million small BTC holders.
• The growth of such small addresses was very limited and slowed remarkably post-FTX collapse in November 2022 but 2023 has seen a surge in new address creation.
Bitcoin Price Surge Spurs Market FOMO
The Bitcoin (BTC) price surge above $20,000 in the second week of January led to a market FOMO (fear of missing out), especially among small BTC holders. There was a significant surge in BTC addresses holding 0.1 BTC or less after Jan. 13 with 620,000 new wallets popping up since then which totals 39.8 million small BTC holders currently present in the market.
Growth of Small Addresses Slowed Post-FTX Collapse
The growth of such small addresses was very limited and slowed remarkably post-FTX collapse in November 2022 but 2023 has seen a surge in new address creation indicating regrowing investor optimism for cryptocurrencies this year. The recent spike is highest since November 2022 when Bitcoin dipped to its cycle low around $16,000 prompting smaller traders to scoop up coins at lower prices.
Altcoins Also Record Multimonth Highs
Apart from Bitcoin, several altcoins have also recorded multimonth highs while the overall crypto market surged over 30%. This further adds to the bullish sentiment that has been growing since mid-January 2021 and continues till date despite February slump where Bitcoin continued its bullish momentum into the first week reaching five month high above $24,000 before retreating back below it again due to resistance at that level.
Trader Optimism High as Bitcoin Price Surpasses $20K
The current trend suggests that trader optimism is still high with many investors expecting further upside for digital assets as prices cross beyond previous all time highs with Ethereum already surpassing its own ATH by crossing past $1400 recently on Feb 16th 2021 despite warnings from some analysts about potential bubble formation due to irrational exuberance amongst retail traders investing heavily into digital currencies without any proper research for long term returns thus putting their wealth at risk if history repeats itself similar to 2017 bull run followed by 2018 bearish trends leading to huge losses across board for many participants who failed to exit their positions timely .