Large bitcoin ($BTC) whales have accumulated an astounding 220,000 coins, valued at over $9.6 billion, over the last seven weeks in what has been deemed the most rapid accumulation seen since September 2019.

According to cryptocurrency analytics firm Santiment, bitcoin addresses with a balance of 1,000 $BTC or more have been adding coins en masse since December 23, to the point they accumulated more than 1% of the flagship cryptocurrency’s total supply in less than two months.

It’s worth noting that one address may not necessarily correspond to one entity on the blockchain, as the same entity can create a large number of addresses, while one address may hold the funds of several entities through custody solutions, for example.

The whale accumulation seemingly started after the price of BTC fell below the $50,000 mark for the second time in December, and kept on moving down to a $34,000 low before it recovered. BTC is, at the time of writing, trading at $43,700 according to CryptoCompare.

The blockchain analytics firm also noted in a separate tweet that fears associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have been having a negative impact on the price of bitcoin over the last two years, but added they are now apparently declining, suggesting further upside.

Looking at Tether’s USDT, Santiment pointed out the stablecoin has been seeing a decline in daily active addresses to two-year lows, which historically correlated with a BTC price rise.

As CryptoGlobe reported the price of bitcoin has recently moved above its 50-day moving average, which suggests it has its downtrend and is entering another rally.

moving average is a stock indicator commonly used in technical analysis that helps smooth out price data and eliminate the impacts of “random, short-term fluctuations” on the price of an asset over a specific time frame

In a note sent to clients Mark Newton, a strategist at Fundstrat, said the rally was an important breakout that could lead to “further near-term strength. Newton added that “initial upside targets lie at $45,000 and then $51,100.”

Earlier this week strategists at  JPMorgan Chase led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou have revealed they see Bitcoin’s current “fair value” at around $38,000, roughly 12% below its current price, while their theoretical BTC price target is at $150,000.

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