Bitcoin Slightly Drops to 72 Million Won Range... Large Investors Still Accumulating

Foreign individual investors aggressively buy ProShares' Bitcoin futures ETF

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin slightly dropped to the 72 million KRW range. However, it is analyzed that large investors holding more than 100 Bitcoins led the upward trend in October.

According to the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, as of 2:31 PM on the 31st, Bitcoin recorded 72.97 million KRW, down 0.60% from the previous day. After reaching 74.5 million KRW at 10:18 AM, it fell back to the 72 million KRW range.

However, Bitcoin showed a tremendous rise this month. Bitcoin, which had fallen to 53.07 million KRW on the 1st, began to surge and rose to 81.75 million KRW on the 20th. This means it increased by about 54% in approximately three weeks.

It is analyzed that active investments by large investors led to the price increase. According to a report by the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, cited by the U.S. economic media Bloomberg on the 29th (local time), “As of early October, the number of large investors was 16,156, the highest since May,” and “large investors confident in the cryptocurrency market seem to have chosen to hold rather than realize profits.”

Furthermore, Kraken emphasized, “The increase in the number of large investors and the amount of Bitcoin held by them is clearly the driving force behind the recent upward trend,” and “large investors are optimistic about future conditions.”

Meanwhile, overseas stock investors known as ‘Seohak Gaemi’ have been accumulating Bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which were the cause of the recent Bitcoin rise. According to the Korea Securities Depository on the 31st, the net purchase amount of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) by Seohak Gaemi over seven trading days from the 20th reached $37,486,086 (approximately 44.086 billion KRW). During this period, the net purchase amount of BITO by Seohak Gaemi ranked fifth among all overseas stocks.

BITO is the first Bitcoin-related ETF listed on the U.S. stock market and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the 19th. On the day of listing, BITO closed up 4.1%, successfully attracting investors’ attention.