Bitcoin stays around the mid-60,000s
Bitcoin has been trading near the mid-60,000s in price. It lost a lot of ground after reaching high levels in late 2025. It has tried several times to move back above 70,000, but it has not been able to stay there. This keeps traders watching every price move.
People who study bitcoin look at both the price and what happens on the blockchain, the computer system that records every bitcoin transaction. The latest news shows that the day to day activity on the network is not growing. This is called on-chain activity. It is a sign that there is less action on the network right now.
Two research firms, Alphractal and Santiment, shared their findings. They describe a phenomenon called bearish divergence. This means the price can still go up while the use of the network goes down. In other words, the price and the network activity do not move together in the same direction.
Alphractal says the active supply, which is the number of bitcoins that are being moved or used, has stopped growing. This means fewer bitcoins are moving around the system. As a result, overall activity has slowed. The firm says this drop goes beyond how the market is currently behaving. It also points to what they call global human behavior: when prices are weak and uncertainty is rising, people are less willing to move their bitcoins.
In simple terms, people holding bitcoins are keeping their coins in their wallets more often. This has made the bitcoin network quieter. Alphractal uses the term social demotivation on-chain. It describes emotional fatigue, less interest, and a lack of conviction among users. When this happens, it can hint at a bigger change in the market, but it does not by itself prove that prices will fall or rise.
Another data provider, Santiment, compares today with 2021. They found that fewer unique bitcoin addresses are making transactions—42% fewer—and there are 47% fewer new addresses being created. In plain language, fewer different people are moving bitcoin and fewer new people are starting to use bitcoin. This shows a drop in on-chain use. It does not mean bitcoin is finished or that a long bear market is guaranteed, but it does show a clear pattern of reduced on-chain activity during 2025, even as total market value rose to new highs at times.
Experts say a bear market does not have to happen just because on-chain activity slows. Markets are complicated. Still, the pattern is a sign that the overall use of bitcoin on the network is not keeping up with price gains.
Whale accumulation rises despite slower participation
At the same time, big bitcoin holders, often called whales, have been buying more bitcoins. In recent weeks, whale accumulation has added more than 200,000 BTC to their holdings. Even though inflows to cryptocurrency exchanges—where people buy and sell—have increased at times, the total stock of bitcoins held by whales has kept growing overall.
To understand long-term trends, CryptoQuant looks at the supply of bitcoins held by whales using monthly averages rather than daily moves. The metric briefly dropped to just under minus 7% on December 15, but it has since turned higher. In the last month, whale holdings grew by about 3.4%.
During this period, whales moved from holding roughly 2.9 million BTC to more than 3.1 million BTC. CryptoQuant notes that a similar level of whale accumulation happened in April 2025, during a market correction. In that time, big buyers helped absorb selling pressure and supported a rally that lifted bitcoin from about 76,000 to 126,000 dollars.
Today, bitcoin prices sit about 46% below their peak. This lower price level could be attractive to big holders who want to increase their long-term positions. If whales keep buying, this could help support the market in the weeks ahead, even if the day-to-day price moves are choppy.
Overall, the story is mixed. Price momentum and on-chain activity have diverged. Big holders seem willing to accumulate. How this combination will play out remains uncertain, and many investors are watching for clues about the next big move for bitcoin.
What to watch next
Analysts say it is important to monitor both price action and on-chain indicators in the coming weeks. If more users return to moving bitcoin on the network, and if unique addresses and new users begin to rise again, that could signal renewed network health. On the other hand, if on-chain activity stays weak while prices stay high or fall further, this could point to further caution in the market.
In the end, the bitcoin market depends on many factors, including investor mood, regulatory news, macroeconomic conditions, and what big holders decide to do with their coins. The current picture shows a quiet network with growing holdings among the largest investors, set against a price that remains below the highs reached in previous years.
Definitions
Below are simple explanations of terms used in this article, with links to more information on Wikipedia. These definitions help explain how the bitcoin system works and what the terms mean in everyday language.
- Bitcoin — Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency, created in 2008 and launched in 2009, operating on a peer-to-peer network with a public blockchain and mining via proof-of-work. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin)
- Blockchain — A blockchain is a distributed ledger, which means a list of records kept across many computers, linked by cryptographic hashes, and maintained by a network to record transactions. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain)
- Market capitalization — Market capitalization is the total value of a publicly traded asset, calculated by multiplying the price by the number of units available. For bitcoin, it is the total value of all bitcoins in existence. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_capitalization)
- Bear market — A bear market is a time when prices are falling, usually defined as a drop of around 20% from recent highs. It is the opposite of a bull market, which is rising prices. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_trend#Bear_market)
- Bitcoin address — A Bitcoin address is a string of characters used to send and receive bitcoins on the Bitcoin network. Wallet software uses addresses to route payments. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_address)
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