Bitcoin's trading activity has fallen sharply even as on-chain data points to continued accumulation by conviction buyers, according to Glassnode and CryptoQuant.

Glassnode reported that strong hands have been buying BTC, with the largest increase in conviction holdings occurring after Bitcoin fell to $60,000 in January. Separately, CryptoQuant said Bitcoin spot demand is close to turning positive for the first time since February. At the same time, Bitcoin spot trading volume on Binance has dropped below $1 billion, reaching levels not seen since the 2023 bear market.

Strong Hands Increase Bitcoin Holdings

According to Glassnode, market bottoms form when profit-taking slows and conviction buyers enter the market. The firm said the current setup resembles conditions seen during 2022, and it identified January as a major accumulation period. Conviction buyers recorded their largest increase in BTC holdings when Bitcoin dropped to $60,000 that month. In on-chain analysis, “strong hands” refers to investor cohorts that accumulate and hold through drawdowns rather than sell into weakness, which is why shifts in their holdings are tracked as a gauge of where coin supply is concentrated.

CryptoQuant also reported a change in spot demand. Its data showed demand approaching positive territory after remaining negative since February. Historically, CryptoQuant said, similar shifts produced a median 18.1% gain over 60 days. The pattern also recorded a 78% win rate, rising to 87% when valuations were depressed.

Bitcoin Taker Volume Hits Exhaustion Zone

Taker buy volume measures trades executed immediately at the prevailing market price, so it is widely read as a proxy for aggressive, near-term demand. CryptoQuant said Bitcoin taker buy volume has entered a historical exhaustion zone. Similar contractions have previously appeared during capitulation or accumulation periods, which the firm said have often preceded a recovery in demand.

The data adds another measure to the broader decline in Bitcoin trading activity. That slowdown is especially visible on Binance, according to analyst Darkfost, where Bitcoin spot trading volume has fallen below $1 billion.

Binance Bitcoin Volume Falls to Bear-Market Levels

Darkfost said Binance handles nearly 40% of total spot volume across exchanges. With no rival venue close to that share, Binance's spot activity is widely used as a proxy for overall market participation, which is why its volume readings attract attention beyond a single platform. Current Bitcoin volume on the platform remains far below levels recorded during March 2024, when several trading days exceeded $15 billion in spot volume.

According to Darkfost, current volumes are the lowest recorded since the end of the 2023 bear market. The analyst described the decline as a sharp reduction in investor activity.

Darkfost also noted that Binance has processed nearly $200 trillion in Bitcoin volume since 2020. For comparison, he said that figure equals roughly twice the size of the global M2 money supply. For readers tracking these datasets, the near-term data points to watch are whether CryptoQuant's spot demand gauge completes its shift into positive territory and whether Binance spot volume stabilizes or moves off its current lows.