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Bitcoin on exchanges falls to lowest level since November 2018
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The amount of Bitcoin stored on centralized exchanges (CEXes) fell below 2.708 million BTC - the lowest level since November 2018, according to data from CryptoQuant publicized this week. At the peak of the last boom cycle, between 2020 and 2022, the number exceeded 3.5 million BTC.
Bitcoins are being withdrawn from exchanges at a rapid pace. And that may be good news.
What the numbers show
CryptoQuant's data shows that, for years, the reserves on the exchanges and the price of Bitcoin moved in similar directions. When the price rose, so did the reserves - more people deposited BTC on the platforms, either to sell on the rise or to trade.
This pattern changed structurally from 2022 onwards. Since then, reserves have fallen almost uninterruptedly, even while the price has risen from US$ 16,000 at the bottom of the bear market to hit US$ 100,000 at the end of 2025.
The most significant detail of the current moment: Bitcoin has retreated from ~US$ 100 thousand to the US$ 70 thousand range in recent weeks - a relevant correction - and the reserves kept falling even so.
In previous cycles, price corrections used to be accompanied by an increase in reserves, as holders deposited BTC on exchanges in order to sell. Not this time.
Those who have Bitcoin are holding it. And they're holding it outside the exchanges.
What may have changed
Two market factors help explain much of this drain of BTC from exchanges.
The first is the Bitcoin ETFs on the horizon in the US, The funds were approved at the beginning of 2024. Funds from BlackRock, Fidelity and others have accumulated tens of billions of dollars in BTC in a matter of months. These bitcoins are bought on the market and held in custody outside of retail exchanges - they leave the available supply and go into institutional “vaults”.
The second is the corporate treasuries, led by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which aggressively and continuously accumulates BTC on its balance sheet. Each institutional purchase of this type is BTC that leaves the immediate circulation of the exchanges and enters long-term custody.
But it's not just the institutional side. The trend of individual users withdrawing BTC from exchanges and storing it in their own wallets also contributes to this movement. It's the basic principle that the industry has been repeating for years: not your keys, not your coins. Those who truly believe in Bitcoin as a store of value don't leave it on the exchange.
If you want to learn how to self-custody your coins, check out our sovereign tools to read the tutorials available on Soberano.
What this means for the price
Less BTC available on exchanges means less immediate supply for sale. If demand continues - or increases - in a scenario of compressed supply, the result tends to be upward pressure on the price. This is what analysts call supply shockshortage of assets available for purchase.
It's not a guarantee of a rise. Price depends on multiple factors, and the market is going through a time of significant uncertainty - the correction of recent months reflects this. But the on-chain reserves data is one of the structural indicators most observed by those who analyze Bitcoin in depth, precisely because it measures the real behavior of holders, not sentiment or speculation.
And the current behavior of holders says: I'm keeping my Bitcoin, not leaving it on the exchange.
If you want to learn more about how to analyze on-chain data to invest more consciously, read the article “How to use on-chain analysis tools to know when to buy bitcoin“.
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