Strengthening Bitcoin Market Structure Amid Declining Trading Volumes

Bitcoin's market structure is becoming more robust, even as trading volumes decrease. Long-term holders are maintaining their investments, while more Bitcoin is being kept in cold storage and supply on exchanges is reducing. This suggests a movement towards a more stable market, according to industry experts.

Key Takeaways

Bitcoin’s market structure is strengthening despite lower trading volumes.
Long-term holders are keeping their positions, and more Bitcoin is being moved to cold storage.
There’s a noted divergence between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq, indicating potential price mispricing.
Institutional demand is rising, as evidenced by significant purchases before key economic reports.
Analysts emphasize a strategic shift from retail to institutional activity in Bitcoin trading.

Bitcoin market structure strengthens amid lower trading volumes - 1

Main Content

Analysts assert that Bitcoin's market structure has continued to improve, even in the face of decreasing trading volumes. Long-term holders have retained their positions, resulting in an increase in Bitcoin being transferred to cold storage, while the supply available on exchanges is becoming tighter. This transition represents a shift from erratic, sentiment-driven price fluctuations to a more stable, structured support for Bitcoin.

CryptoMichNL, the chief investment officer and founder of MNFund and MNCapital, remarked on X that Bitcoin tends to correlate strongly with the Nasdaq. Despite the Nasdaq demonstrating steady resilience, Bitcoin has not kept up, leading the analyst to describe this situation as a mispricing or divergence in the market. This gap indicates that there may be opportunities for significant gains ahead while raising doubts about the four-year cycle theory.

A great representation of the current status of the markets for #Bitcoin.

Technically, we can all argue that #Bitcoin is correlated with the Nasdaq.

Nasdaq has been showing resilience, Bitcoin has not.

That creates mispricing and a divergence.

That's why $100K is around the… pic.twitter.com/f8XYAqRNWS
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) December 9, 2025

Recently, Bitcoin experienced a significant price correction, which prompted a notable shift between high-volatility “Beta” assets and more stable “Quality” assets as per LVisserLabs. During this phase, while Bitcoin's progress stalled post-sell-off, Beta stocks saw a robust rebound, indicating a return of risk appetite in the broader market.

Investigating on-chain data, investor Ucan identified a surge in institutional demand occurring within a short time frame. Major exchanges, market makers, and an unidentified whale executed large-scale purchases just prior to the release of the Federal Reserve’s employment report. This timing suggests that institutions were proactively positioning themselves in anticipation of potentially positive economic data, while retail traders primarily responded to the market's fluctuations.

Analysts highlight that this pattern of behavior reflects a strategic, preparatory approach rather than being solely driven by market momentum. This underscores the increasing impact of institutional involvement on Bitcoin’s price movements.