Bitcoin has lost 16% of its value after taking a hit from above $10,000 to below $8,450. At the time of writing, the digital asset has been trading at $8,665 with 24 hours gains of 1.07% while managing the daily trading volume of a mere $245 million, down from the $1 billion mark it has been staying above for the most part in 2020.

Despite the loss in value, investors continue to accumulate bitcoin as the BTC balance on crypto exchanges doubled since Jan. 1, 2018.

Bitstamp, Binance, Kraken, Bittrex, Bitfinex, Huobi, OKEx, and Deribit all recorded significant growth in their BTC balances, observed analyst Ceteris Paribus, which you also can see on the bitcoin explorer.

A slight dip in this accumulation was seen in Nov. 2018 when the bitcoin price crashed from about $6,000 to $3,200 in Dec. But Bitcoin hitting the bottom altered the trajectory and people jumped right into BTC yet again.

The second event to change the trajectory was the start of the bull run in late April 2019. During this period, the New York Attorney General (NYAG) also launched an investigation into crypto exchange Bitfinex and its sister company Tether’s (USDT) $850 million cover-up.

“Regardless of price action, more and more is getting sent to exchanges,” noted Paribus.

$BTC Exchange Balances (on exchanges noted below) have doubled since Jan 1, 2018.



Regardless of price action, more and more is getting sent to exchanges. Only two material events have altered trajectory:



1) Nov 2018 crash

2) Start of 2019 bull run + Bitfinex AG investigation pic.twitter.com/HzxGzQhN4I — Ceteris Paribus (@ceterispar1bus) February 28, 2020

If Bitcoin Doesn’t Stabilize Here, the Next Stop would be around $7,500

On the price front, despite the 16% drop Bitcoin is still up 18% in 2020 so far. Just like stocks that took a brutal beating last week, marking the biggest weekly drop since 2008, the crypto market went down as well.

BTC price, however, has bounced and now hovering around $8,600. Just yesterday, bitcoin futures contracts on the regulated platform CME expired and the CME gap at $8,500 fully closed.

However, if bitcoin takes one more step in the downward direction and loses the current level, trader Crypto Michael says the digital asset would be heading for $7,500-$7,700.

Similarly, analyst DonAlt is expecting bitcoin to stop ranging and see some crazy action as we approach bitcoin halving in May 2020.

My macro thesis has been that BTC is digesting the '15-'17 bull run by ranging for a while now.

I can't imagine that ranging to go on for much longer.



I'm expecting some wild price action going into the halving.

Once that's out of the way we'll finally get the next macro move. pic.twitter.com/Ti15X2P2yx — DonAlt (@CryptoDonAlt) February 26, 2020

Analyst Magic is yet another commentator who expects “a continuation in selling pressure” if bitcoin breaks below the 50-week moving average and 50% retrace of the 2019 bull market level at the top of which we are currently sitting at. However, if bitcoin manages to find support here, we could also see a rally that could take us towards $20,000. But it’s worth noting that there isn’t any supporting evidence to the inverted head and shoulder pattern completion that would lead it to the upside.