Bitcoin sees its third quarterly trading volume in 3 years: report

The first quarter of 2024 turned out to be the third best for Bitcoin (BTC) in the past three years, according to a report by crypto data analysis platform Caico.

Between January and March 2024, the leading digital asset has recorded more than $1.4 trillion in transactions.

Increase in Bitcoin transaction volume

Q1 2024 was Bitcoin's best quarter in a year as the network increased transaction volume. The $1.4 trillion traded in the quarter was the highest amount the network has seen in more than two years, representing a 107% increase from the $674 billion recorded in Q4 2023.

The last time Bitcoin recorded similar trading volumes was in Q1 and Q2 2021, when the network traded over $1.93 trillion and $2.16 trillion respectively. A similar but smaller figure was seen in Q4 2021, trading at $1.37 trillion.

Kaiko said the quarter's increase in transaction volume reflects strong market participation and improved market share. That's a tall order, considering the market emerged from the depths of a bear cycle in the first quarter of last year's high of $1.1 trillion.

In particular, major centralized exchanges such as OKX and Bybit showed significant growth in their trading activity, while smaller Asian platforms such as Bithumb, Korbit, Bitflyer and Zaif recorded the highest percentage growth in trading volume.

Effect of Spot Bitcoin ETFs

A major factor behind Bitcoin's growth last quarter was the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. The strong demand for ETFs had a positive effect on the price of BTC, with the asset closing with a 64% gain, marking its third-quarter performance in three years.

Bitcoin's best quarter is when the asset gains 101%, closing at 71%, when the asset gains 101%, Bitcoin's best quarter remains.

Meanwhile, the 60-day correlation between BTC and altcoins fell to multi-year lows in Q1 2024. Caico attributed the decline to altcoins' competition for liquidity, while bitcoin saw strong gains amid the launch of spot ETFs.

Although meme coins and artificial intelligence-related cryptocurrencies have experienced significant declines in correlation, Uniswap's native token UNI has seen the biggest decline in this measure due to increased volatility following a recent regulatory proposal.