Although Bitcoin and the aggregated crypto markets have been facing a bout of significant volatility over the past few days, while zooming out and looking at its long-term performance, it is clear that BTC is still in a firm uptrend throughout the course of 2019.

Now, one prominent figure within the crypto industry is noting that retail investors – through the use of leveraged positions – have been the driving force behind the recent Bitcoin rally.

Retail Investors, Not Institutions, Have Driven the 2019 Bitcoin Rally

Throughout the course of 2019, Bitcoin has skyrocketed from lows of $3,400 to highs of $13,800, from which point it has faced a significant correction that has brought its price down to its current position within the $11,000 region.

This massive surge was driven by a sudden influx of funding into BTC, and many analysts had speculated that institutional investors – through recently released investment platforms like the one offered by Fidelity – were driving this rally.

Despite this, Zhao Changpeng, the CEO and founder of Binance, explained in a recent interview with Bloomberg that the crypto markets and Bitcoin have not seen too many institutions begin investing, despite all the hype.

“We have not seen institutions growing faster. What we’ve seen is pickup in both places. The number of institutions coming into this industry has not increased that tremendously in 2019 yet,” he said, dispelling the notion that institutions were driving this rally.

Furthermore, Changpeng also said that he believes that the vast majority of people will be using leveraged trading in some capacity by the end of the year, explaining that it is safer than one might initially believe.

“I would say the majority of people by the end of the year will be using margin in some capacity. It’s quite safe to use to be honest. There will be more trading volume and potentially higher volatility,” he said.

Despite This, Retail Interest in BTC is Currently Lackluster

Although individual investors could sway the markets if leveraged trading was being used by the majority of them, it is important to note that interest in Bitcoin from those who are not currently investing in the markets has plummeted as of late.

The Crypto Dog, a popular cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, spoke about this in a recent tweet, while referencing the Google Trends chart seen below.

“Buy the dip $btc #bitcoin,” he concisely noted.

As the year continues on and Bitcoin’s price action continues to unfold, it is highly probable that analysts and investors alike will soon understand whether or not there is still a significant amount of funds waiting on the sideline, ready to be funneled into the markets.

Featured image from Shutterstock.