Bitcoin (BTC) Flashes Positive Signals as Sam Bankman-Fried Court Trial Begins —Is $30,000 Next?

Key Insights:

• Bitcoin (BTC) price traded at $27,500 on October 5 as FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial began in a New York court on Wednesday.   
• $560 million worth of BTC held by FTX is the second-largest asset in the defunct exchange’s holdings under possible liquidation.  
• BTC Premium Index hit a 14-day peak on Coinbase Pro as the trial appears to have boosted corporate entities’ confidence in the crypto sector.

Bitcoin (BTC) price edged closer to $28,000 on Thursday following the commencement of the much-publicized Sam Bankman-Fried trial on October 4. On-chain data reveals that a group of US-based crypto whale investors have tuned up their interest in BTC. 

Wall Street Whales on Coinbase are Stacking up on BTC

Sam Bankman-Fried trial appears to have institutional investors’ confidence in Bitcoin. In an indication of this, a vital on-chain indicator shows that US-based whales have started piling up buying pressure this week.

CryptoQuant’s Coinbase Premium Index shows the percentage difference between Bitcoin prices on Binance spot markets and the Coinbase Pro trading platform. 

Notably, Binance is known to dominate the retail trading market globally. Meanwhile, trading activity Coinbase Pro is mainly dominated by US-based corporate entities and high-networth traders looking to trade in a more regulated environment. 

Hence, when the coinbase Premium Index of BTC enters positive values, it indicates that US investors are increasing buying pressure.

The chart above depicts that, on October 2, the BTC Coinbase Premium Index hit 0.35, the highest since Sept 7.  Historically, BTC price has often rallied within days after it has entered positive values. This phenomenon can be observed on August 29 and September 20, respectively.  

In both cases, Bitcoin price made noticeable gains within days after the US whales began to move the needle on Coinbase Pro 

However, it remains to be seen if the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index will keep rising in the coming days. If that happens, the bullish signal could spur increased market demand for BTC across other retail-dominated exchanges as well. 

Bitcoin Price Prediction: $30,000 is a Viable Target

Based on the on-chain data point analyzed above, Bitcoin price could rally toward $30,000 if the whales keep buying.

From a technical perspective, BTC could initially struggle to break above the significant resistance of around $28,500. But if the bulls can surmount that sell-wall, Bitcoin price could reach $30,000 for the first time since July 2023.