Bitcoin Achieves Third Highest Quarterly Trading Volumes in Three Years

Bitcoin hasn’t witnessed trading volumes of this magnitude since Q1 and Q2 of 2021.

According to a report from crypto data analytics platform Kaiko, the first quarter of 2024 marked Bitcoin’s third strongest performance in the last three years, with trading volumes surpassing $1.4 trillion between January and March.

A Spike in Bitcoin’s Trade Volume
In Q1 2024, Bitcoin experienced its most robust quarter in a year, witnessing a notable surge in trading volume. The $1.4 trillion traded during the quarter marked the highest cumulative amount observed on the network in over two years, reflecting a 107% increase from the $674 billion recorded in Q4 2023.

The last time Bitcoin saw comparable trading volumes was in Q1 and Q2 of 2021, with trading volumes exceeding $1.93 trillion and $2.16 trillion, respectively.

A similar, albeit smaller, figure was also observed in Q4 2021, with $1.37 trillion traded.Kaiko noted that the uptick in quarterly trading volumes indicated heightened market engagement and increased market participation.

This achievement is significant, especially considering that the highest volume recorded last year was $1.1 trillion in the first quarter, following the market’s recovery from the depths of the bear cycle.

Significantly, prominent centralized exchanges such as OKX and Bybit experienced substantial growth in their trading activity. Meanwhile, smaller Asian platforms like Bithumb, Korbit, Bitflyer, and Zaif saw the highest percentage increase in trading volumes.

The Impact of Spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
The primary driver behind Bitcoin’s surge last quarter stemmed from the introduction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. The considerable demand for these ETFs had a positive impact on BTC’s price, leading the asset to conclude the quarter with a 64% gain, marking its third-strongest quarterly performance in three years.

Bitcoin’s most lucrative quarter in terms of returns remains Q1 2021, during which the asset gained 101%, while its second-best performance occurred in Q1 2023, closing with a 71% increase.
Meanwhile, the 60-day correlation between BTC and altcoins plummeted to multi-year lows in Q1 2024. Kaiko attributed this decline to altcoins vying for liquidity, whereas Bitcoin experienced substantial inflows following the launch of spot ETFs.

Despite meme coins and artificial intelligence-linked cryptocurrencies experiencing notable declines in correlation, Uniswap’s native token, UNI, witnessed the most significant drop in this metric due to increased volatility following a recent governance proposal.

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