Bitcoin sheds ‘dumb money’ as retail buys most BTC since March 2020 crash

December 15, 2021 Alex Rustok

Bitcoin (BTC) is back in fashion for regular investors at $48,000 as data confirms the biggest buying spree since March 2020.

In a tweet on Dec. 14, statistician Willy Woo eyed a key trend that had previously been absent from the Bitcoin market for over 18 months.

Retail adds BTC like it’s March 2020

After crashing to $3,600 in March 2020, BTC/USD was a hot pick for those able and willing to invest — and now, that phenomenon is back.

The changes in balances for wallets holding 1 BTC or less — typically suggesting smallscale investors — have reached their highest since March 2020.

While the circumstances remain the same — coronavirus fears and macro market jitters over central bank policy — the major difference at the end of 2021 is that Bitcoin costs $48,000, not $3,600.

Nonetheless, if the retail accumulation data is accurate, interest is surging.

“The last time retail bought the dip this hard was at the bottom of the COVID crash,” Woo commented.

As Cointelegraph reported this week, larger existing hodlers continue to exhibit mixed behavior at current price levels. Despite selling by some, the top tier — whales — are more cautious about divesting away from BTC.

“Smart” vs. “dumb” money hits all-time high

Meanwhile, the proportion of long-term investors has reached a record high versus short-term market participants.

Related: Bitcoin price dip may end Wednesday as Bitfinex bids hint at Fed ‘buy the news’ plans

According to the so-called “Smart Money Gap” indicator, consisting of data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, there has never been a greater disparity between the amount of BTC held by “smart” and “dumb” money — long-term and short-term buyers.

Throughout Bitcoin’s history, local peaks in the metric have heralded the start of price bull runs, signifying local price bottoms.

Bitcoin Smart Money Gap annotated chart. Source: Twitter

The numbers support the narrative that Bitcoin’s near 40% come-down from $69,000 all-time highs “flushed out” speculative market bets.