Bitcoin

Bitcoin (BTC) Weekend Trading Volumes Down 50% on BitMEX

Christine Vasileva | Oct 04, 2019 | 12:00

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Bitcoin (BTC) trading activity has dropped off noticeably on weekends, shows recent analysis by Skew Markets. The pattern, sometimes intuitively noticed by traders, shows a clear weekly bias for the crypto markets.

Trading and On-Chain Activity Show Predictable Weekly Bias

BTC trading and even on-chain activity has a strong weekly bias, despite the fact that markets are always open. But weekends show a clear drop in volumes, opening up an opportunity to sway the market price on relatively lower trading activity.

Weekends have been quiet recently – volumes down ~50% pic.twitter.com/zy8e0Iw1Ar

— skew (@skew_markets) October 4, 2019

Not only markets, but the Bitcoin network also experiences periods of lowered activity on weekends. The specific pattern reveals markets that are populated by retail investors, taking a break each week.

For BTC, late Sunday was usually a key time, when significant highs have been achieved in the early hours for Asian markets. Afterward, deep sell-offs are noted on Monday or Tuesday, but also mid-week. On certain weekends, BTC also went through a clear trading pattern known as the “Bart Simpson”, when the price climbed on Friday, held high and stable for the weekend, then tanked on Monday.

But now, there are more ominous signs, as a low-volume weekend is no longer enough for the bulls to stage a rally.

The bulls total inability to mount any type of rally over the weekend is not a good sign near term $BTC

— Kyle in CryptoLand (@KyleCryptoLand) September 29, 2019

BTC Sentiment Remains Shaky

BTC remains highly volatile, with days that log movements of hundreds or even thousands of dollars within days. It is harder to predict the day-to-day movements, while analysts see the week as a sufficient period to establish BTC trends and signals. For that reason, accounting for the weekend bias has been included into price signals and predictions.

The Bitcoin network also indicates its activity by the backlog of pending transactions. On Friday, the count was around 2,400 – a relatively low mempool load. On busier days, there are more than 20,000 transactions waiting to be included in a block. High network activity also precedes days of increased trading and possible price spikes.

BTC is entering a new quarter with a highly uncertain sentiment, and with predictions of corrections toward $6,000. But independent of the price movements, weekly patterns remain persistent, potentially offering another prediction tool.

What do you think about the BTC weekly bias? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @KyleCryptoLand