By CCN.com: Bitcoin’s gains may not be parabolic, but the price is moving steadily higher. With BTC currently hovering at the $5,300 level, the mood around crypto has improved tremendously. Nonetheless, the bitcoin price continues to trade 75% below its peak.

A new report by Adamant Capital suggests that the smart money represented by BTC whales is in an “accumulation” phase. This chapter reflects the “last phase of the bear market.” The firm, which runs a bitcoin alpha fund, is advising value investors that now’s the time to buy. Once the BTC bulls solidify their grip, the bitcoin price is headed for the moon, the analysis suggests:

“During this accumulation phase, we expect for bitcoin to trade in a range of $3,000 to $6,500 until the new bull market permanently cements the denarian cryptocurrency as a multi-trillion dollar asset class.”

https://twitter.com/TuurDemeester/status/1118930502105423873

Big Investors Got Cold Feet in 2018

The crypto market is headed to the big time where it will go toe-to-toe with assets in the capital markets. So, how do you explain last year? When the price cratered below $6,000, BTC “hodlers” got spooked and sold. Adamant Capital points to more than “70,000 bitcoin days [being] destroyed.” Conditions worsened when crypto exchange Coinbase redirected some of its BTC. This activity combined gave institutional investors “cold feet” at year-end 2018. What a difference a new year makes, and the institutions have begun to dip their toes back into the crypto waters.

Based on the “historic highs and lows of bitcoin…we are back in undervalued territory.” That doesn’t mean the bitcoin price won’t retest November lows, but the dynamics are shifting. They point to low volatility, which is a surefire sign that the “trigger-happy retail speculators” are out and “agnostic traders and long-term value investors” are in.

Accumulation Phase

So if bitcoin is back in “strong hands,” why aren’t we seeing the price spike? The accumulation phase reflects a time when value investors “buy the dips.” Turns out they are in no hurry to do so. They will continue accumulating BTC throughout this phase however long it takes. That explains why the market will be range-bound for a while.

The thing to remember is that leading cryptocurrency’s fundamentals remain solid, and the “ecosystem is developing at a rapid clip.” If they’re right, the bitcoin bulls are just warming up.