Bitcoin Price Rests Above Key Indicator Amid 'Return of Retail Investors'

Despite pulling back from recent highs, bitcoin, the world's largest crypto by market cap, remains above a key long-term technical indicator, which reflects bullish market conditions.

Prices are currently at about $46,350 after topping out at $46,453 in the last 24 hours, CoinDesk data show. The crypto is up 57% year to date and is making headway toward its all-time high of $64,829 on April 14.

"After a quiet July, we’re seeing a return of retail investors," said Caroline Bowler, CEO of Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets. "Market wisdom draws a line between the retreat of Chinese bitcoin miners and the recentering of trading activity in the U.S. and Europe."

Indeed, Tuesday's on-chain analysis by blockchain data firm Kaiko suggests trading activity is continuing to shift from China to the U.S. and European Union amid the crackdown against crypto mining in China, CoinDesk reported.

The 200-day moving average now appears to be holding prices at above $45,117, according to Bitstamp exchange data. As CoinDesk reported, price action is considered bullish above (red line) and bearish below.

"Despite July being a quieter month, we experienced a significantly larger number of accounts trading over $1 million per month," Bowler said.

Data from Glassnode shows the total supply of bitcoin held by entities with a balance of 0.1-1 BTC has continued to increase alongside bitcoin's price, suggesting that retail investors are buying alongside institutional investors.

Bitcoin isn't the only crypto that is experiencing an uptick in trading activity in August.

"Ether and other assets are representing the majority in trading volume and not bitcoin," said Daniel Kim, head of capital markets at Maple Finance. "This shows that individuals and institutions are feeling a lot more comfortable holding other cryptos and are no longer diversifying their portfolios by just holding bitcoin."

Other notable altcoins in the top 20 by market capitalization are also riding high over a 24-hour period as cardano, XRP, binance coin, polygon and stellar have all posted gains.