Bitcoin Whales Are Loading Up, and That Looks a Lot Like It Did Before the 2020 Rally

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund inflows shot up more than 580% this week, as one analyst pointed out that whales were loading up on Bitcoin at a pace akin to the lead-up to the 2020 rally.

Retail and institutional investors piled into Bitcoin (BTC) products once again last week, driving inflows to hit their highest since March 2024.

According to data from ETFFlows, inflows into the 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs reached a total of $2.13 billion over the past week, following six consecutive days of positive inflows.

This marks the first time that weekly inflows into Bitcoin ETFs have surpassed the $2 billion mark since March 2024.

For context, it took gold ETFs several years to reach the $20 billion mark in net inflows, while Bitcoin products took less than a year, ETF Trends head of product development Dave Nadig noted in March.

According to SoSoValue data, weekly inflows peaked on Oct. 14 with $555.86 million flowing into the ETFs, slowing down to reach $273.71 million by Oct. 18.

None of the funds saw negative flows on the last trading day, with ARK 21Shares’ ARKB ETF leading the pack. Here’s how inflows were recorded for each fund:

The uptick in institutional demand for Bitcoin exposure comes as the flagship crypto continues to trade above the $68K mark and is closing in on its all-time high.

Meanwhile, data from CryptoQuant shows that whales might be preparing for another round of accumulation, which could be a sign of an upcoming rally.

According to CryptoQuant author Woominkyu on X, the Bitcoin whale ratio on spot exchanges "looks a lot like July 2020."

"After the COVID crash, the last time the whale spot exchange BTC balance went up this much, an interesting rally took off," the author noted.

Ki-Young Ju, another analyst and CryptoQuant CEO, observed a similar accumulation pattern among newer whales.

"New whale wallets (average coin age: <155 days) now hold 1.97M #Bitcoin. Each has over 1K BTC, excluding exchange and miner wallets (likely custodial)," Ju wrote in an Oct. 16 X post.

"Their BTC balance surged 813% year-to-date, taking up 9.3% of the total supply (about 21.9M BTC), valued at $132B today."

Whales are often referred to as "smart money" as they tend to buy during market dips and hold through the ups and downs, using their deep pockets and strategic timing to make calculated moves.

Their actions can often signal where the market might be heading next, as they usually position themselves ahead of big price shifts.

While the uptick in whale accumulation has sparked hopes of an upcoming rally, several market analysts are also expecting the bellwether to reach a new all-time high soon.

The upcoming U.S. presidential elections are seen as a potential catalyst for Bitcoin’s rally.

Pseudonymous trader Crypto Raven pointed out that polls are showing increasing odds for Republican candidate Donald Trump winning the November elections, which could be just the push BTC needs to hit new highs.

"If everything goes this smooth, we could aim for the moon," Raven added.

On a more bullish note, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan predicts Bitcoin will hit six figures, driven not just by the upcoming elections, but also by a surge in institutional demand and other macroeconomic factors.

At press time, the flagship cryptocurrency is trading at $68,280, up 8.5% over the past week.