Is Bitcoin Price Top At $146,000? Here’s Why CryptoQuant Thinks So

The call of the Bitcoin price reaching $100,000 cooled off this past week, especially after the premier cryptocurrency slipped beneath $93,000 during the last seven-day span. Fortunately, BTC has somewhat recovered from the slump, climbing as high as $98,500 on Friday, November 29.

Following the recent Bitcoin price decline, investors have been left wondering if the market cycle top is close — or if there is still more room for growth. A prominent on-chain analytics firm has revealed that the crypto market is still in a bullish phase.

Bitcoin Still In A Bull Market, But Blockchain Firm Sounds Warning

In its latest report, the market analytics platform CryptoQuant has put forward a target for the Bitcoin price top in the current cycle. According to the blockchain firm, the market leader’s price top is more in the range of a six-figure valuation.

The major rationale behind this projection is based on the realized price valuation metric, which measures the price at which each coin was last transacted. From a historical perspective, this Bitcoin price band has often acted as an indicator of the market top in past cycles.

According to CryptoQuant, the realized price metric is currently pointing to $146,000 as the possible peak in this cycle. As shown in the chart below, the price band (the red line), currently around $147,000, acted as the market top around April and May 2021.

Source: CryptoQuant

Furthermore, the holdings of new investors are yet to reach an extreme level, which was a signal in the past two market tops. As of now, the value held by new Bitcoin investors represents a little above 50% of the total money in BTC; this figure significantly pales compared to 90% and 80% witnessed in 2017 and 2021, respectively.

CryptoQuant warned:

Bitcoin price tops typically occur when new investors enter the market to buy at extremely high prices, which causes them to hold a large proportion of the total value invested.

Moreover, the retail trading activity is yet to hit levels often associated with Bitcoin price peaks. Historically, bull cycles have been seen to top out when BTC retail investors are accumulating coins aggressively. However, this phenomenon is still absent in the current market condition.

It is worth mentioning that CryptoQuant expects a pullback for the Bitcoin price in the short term. According to the on-chain intelligence firm, MicroStrategy’s stock price is becoming overheated relative to the company’s Bitcoin holdings value.

Bitcoin Price At A Glance

As of this writing, the price of Bitcoin stands around $96,500, reflecting an almost 3% increase in the past 24 hours. While this single-day rally has helped shave off some of BTC’s loss in the past week, the premier cryptocurrency is still down by over 2% within the timeframe.