Bitcoin’s price is close to its all-time high set in 2017. But there are some noticeable differences this time around.

Over the past month, major bitcoin price rises have appeared to happen during traditional US market hours (highlighted in green):

During 2017, upward price movements were generally more scattered. For example, in November 2017 there was more movement during nighttime hours when US markets were closed, and more volatility over weekends.

As @VentureCoinist, @AriDavidPaul, and others have pointed out, this suggests that there’s been an increase in US institutional buyers during this run up.

The 2017 run, in contrast, was mostly driven by retail investors, who did not necessarily trade during US hours.

This adds growing evidence to the narrative that institutional investors are driving bitcoin's current run.

For more on this, check out my piece in this week's @coinmetrics State of the Network:

Signs of Institutional Investors https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/coin-metrics-state-of-the-network-dd2