Bitcoin has pushed back toward $80,000 after weeks of pressure, with traders now watching whether the level can flip from resistance to support.
The price reached an intraday high of $79,426 on Wednesday before pulling back slightly to around $78,400 on Thursday. That keeps Bitcoin within striking distance of the $80,000 zone analysts have flagged as the key test.
Institutional buying has been a clear driver. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $223 million in inflows on April 23, extending a streak to eight consecutive days. Strategy purchased 34,000 BTC for $2.54 billion, and Morgan Stanley’s newly launched MSBT ETF pulled in over $153 million in its first two weeks.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs Post 223M USD Inflow, Extending 8-Day Streak
On April 23 (ET), spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a total net inflow of $223 million, extending their net inflow streak to eight days. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw a total net outflow of $75.936 million, ending a 10-day net… pic.twitter.com/UMYwyQstcg
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 24, 2026
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that “every single rolling period we track is now positive, haven’t seen that in months.” Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan added that institutional long-only flows “never really stopped” — what changed was a reversal of short-term basis trades, not core demand.
Bitfinex analysts reported that wallets holding more than 1,000 BTC accumulated 270,000 BTC over the last 30 days — the largest monthly increase since 2013. Exchange reserves have also dropped to a seven-year low, pointing to coins being moved off exchanges rather than sold.
On-chain data from Santiment showed wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC accumulated nearly 41,000 more BTC over the past two weeks.
Bitcoin's key stakeholders are accumulating rapidly with $BTC currently up to $78.3K and crypto's top cap up +15% in April.
According to our on-chain data:
10-10K BTC Wallets have collectively accumulated 40,967 more $BTC in the past 2 weeks (+0.3%)
Less Than… pic.twitter.com/ViffTAQg4Q
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) April 23, 2026
Glassnode confirmed Bitcoin broke above the “True Market Mean” at $78,100 for the first time since mid-January. However, the firm also flagged that short-term holders are realizing profit at $4.4 million per hour — nearly triple the rate seen at every local top this year.
Chartered market technician Aksel Kibar noted that a descending channel is “becoming better defined with several rejections at the upper boundary.” Fidelity’s Jurrien Timmer said the current rally could still be described as a bear flag, but added that Bitcoin appears to be “building a large base in preparation for the next major up wave.”
Trader Ted Pillows posted that the $79,000–$80,000 zone carries “a lot of spot selling orders,” warning that a failure to reclaim it could send BTC back to $76,000.
$BTC tapped the $79,000-$80,000 zone yesterday.
This is a strong resistance zone for Bitcoin with a lot of spot selling orders.
A failure to reclaim it means BTC will retest the $76,000 level again. pic.twitter.com/HCl5QvKYYt
— Ted (@TedPillows) April 23, 2026
Perpetual funding rates remain negative, which Nexo analyst Iliya Kalchev said is actually constructive — rising prices alongside negative funding suggests the move is spot-led rather than leverage-driven.
Exchange reserves sit at seven-year lows while whale accumulation hits its highest monthly pace since 2013.
The post Bitcoin (BTC) Price: Whales Are Buying at the Fastest Pace Since 2013 appeared first on CoinCentral.
