C) Off exchange purchases are at an all time high (or are currently very high). What if large bitcoin holders and larger bitcoin miners have simply decided to fullfill a market of large buyers so that neither push up or pull down current market prices? If I want to invest $5 million into bitcoin - do I send $1 million to 5 different exchanges and hope not to get too much slippage? Do I trust $1 million each to 5 different exchanges? Do I try to explain that to my bank(s)? Do I sit at my computer buying 3.4 btc at a time for a couple of weeks? Probably NOT. I probably go through some broker who has relationships or I have my lawyer call up miners or network for me. Exchange volume is at an ALL TIME LOW. The lower exchange volume drops, the MORE difficult it is for a large hand to buy without slippage and the MORE difficult it is for a large BTC owner or miner to sell without slippage. These parties are not day traders. Executing 150 small orders to try to fullfill a decent size bid or ask is probably not something many of these types care to do.
I understand that these trades may happen, but other than the 30k auction coins, I can't think of a single way to prove this. Is there something around the forum other than hearsay that you've seen? I don't get around the rest of the forum very much lately, so I don't know. Other sources?
Big potential sellers wait for a clear downtrend, which is not apparent now. IMO there's a looming correction in both bulllish and bearish scenarios.
But sellers wait until the last minute, and then sell if a downtrend is confirmed, that's how bitcoin trading works.
Strangely, I was talking to windjc about this not too long ago. I was saying that this market is heavily reactionary in both directions. They wait for someone with deeper pockets than their own to move first, then they act upon that move. Often times it's too late and they have a loss or break-even trade. This is probably due to a lack experience in trading markets by the majority of participants here. This may also be a contributing factor to the hodl mentality.