Are People Selling Their Bitcoin?
When Bitcoin moves onto exchanges, it's usually being prepared to sell. When it leaves, the owner has decided to hold.
Exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken are where most Bitcoin gets bought and sold. Read more
Only 5% of the last 4 years had less Bitcoin sitting on exchanges than today, and the pile is still adding. About 2.72M BTC is on exchanges, roughly 13.7% of all Bitcoin.
Over the past 30 days a net 36.5K BTC has arrived on exchanges. Coins moving onto exchanges often — though not always — comes before selling.
It's worth watching, especially if the pile keeps climbing over the next few weeks. The read turns clearly cautious if the level pushes toward a multi-year high while coins are still arriving.
Reserves over 6 months. Today: 2.7M BTC. Activity busy; more arriving than leaving over the last 30 days (+36K BTC).
How much Bitcoin landed on exchanges each week. Higher bars mean more coins were sent in — typically because the owner was preparing to sell.
How much Bitcoin left exchanges each week. Higher bars mean more coins were pulled off — typically because the owner decided to hold rather than sell.
ETFs custody most of their Bitcoin on exchanges (Coinbase Custody), so the ETF and exchange slices partly overlap. Numbers are honest, the labels just count the same coins in two places.
The 4-year range runs from 2.67M BTC at the low to 3.56M BTC at the high. Today: 2.72M BTC.
Reserves are leaner than typical — fewer coins sitting on exchanges than usual.
Only 85 days in the last 4 years had lower exchange balances than today.
- More Bitcoin is arriving on exchanges than leaving over the past 30 days (+36.5K BTC). The pile sitting on exchanges is growing.
- Only 5% of the last 4 years had less Bitcoin sitting on exchanges than today — and the trend is still adding.
- Coins moving onto exchanges often (not always) precedes selling. Worth watching, especially if the level climbs further over the next few weeks.
Understanding Bitcoin Exchanges Reserve and flow
Exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken are where most Bitcoin gets bought and sold. When someone moves coins onto an exchange, the most common next step is to sell them for cash. When someone moves coins off, they're usually putting Bitcoin into a wallet they control directly — a signal they want to hold rather than sell soon.
The two flow numbers — "Moving In" and "Moving Out" — are what gets sent onto and off exchanges each day. A single day rarely tells the story; what matters is which side is consistently larger over a week or a month. When "Moving Out" stays larger for weeks, the total amount sitting on exchanges (sometimes called "exchange reserves") shrinks and there are fewer coins available to sell. When "Moving In" stays larger, the opposite happens.
Don't read every drop in the amount on exchanges as a buy signal or every rise as a sell signal — coins move between exchanges constantly, and a chunk of the daily activity is operational rather than directional. The signal is the trend over weeks, combined with where the level sits historically. Reserves near a 4-year low with coins still leaving is a very different setup from reserves near a 4-year high with coins arriving.