TL;DR
- Buying power fell across almost all exchanges in December. Only OKX, Kraken, and Upbit closed the month with positive ratios, while the rest operated under strong selling pressure.
- Binance showed a marginal improvement toward the end of the month, but CryptoQuant notes that professional traders reduced exposure despite Bitcoin’s rebound.
- Exchange reserves declined by around 6,650 BTC in one week.
Buying power weakened across most exchanges during December. Outflows exceeded inflows on nearly all major platforms, according to CryptoQuant data. Of the top ten exchanges, only OKX, Kraken, and Upbit ended the month with positive ratios. The rest operated under constant selling pressure.
Bitget posted the worst figures, with a buying power ratio of -1.2083. Upbit stood at the positive extreme, although at levels that fall short of signaling firm accumulation. Coinbase remained slightly negative, while Kraken showed moderate balance. Market capital remains active, but it is fragmented and deployed without conviction.
Binance recorded an improvement toward the end of the month. The ratio moved from negative territory to a barely positive level in early January. The rebound followed a sharp drop in the second half of December, when the indicator hit its low on December 21.
Traders Reduce Their Exposure
According to CryptoQuant, professional traders are cutting exposure rather than increasing positions, even as Bitcoin has stabilized near $90,000 and now trades above $93,000. The buying power ratio compares the speed of BTC outflows with stablecoin capital inflows. A negative value indicates that capital is leaving exchanges faster than it is arriving. That negative dynamic dominated throughout December.
Meanwhile, stablecoins recorded $436 million in inflows against $3.7 billion in outflows during the month. The first positive ratio since early December remained well below the threshold that typically signals accumulation zones. Across 30-, 90-, and 365-day windows, the trend remains weak and without a clear inflection point.
Exchanges Continue to Lose Bitcoin Reserves
The average size of BTC deposits on Binance increased sharply. Average monthly inflows reached 21.7 BTC, and BTC per transaction rose more than 30-fold compared with 2024. Whales are highly active and trading consistently in the market, but they lack the strength to generate broad-based demand.
Bitcoin reserves on exchanges also declined. Seven of the top ten recorded net outflows. The weekly drop totaled 6,650 BTC, roughly $612 million. Coinbase recorded BTC inflows, while Binance and Kraken reduced their reserves. Together, the three account for more than 82% of total Bitcoin held on exchanges.
