Bitcoin exchange balances have recovered 84% of a six-week decline, weakening claims that ETF demand is creating an immediate shortage. The recovery saw 28,000 BTC return to exchanges, with balances reaching their highest level since June 15. According to Santiment Intelligence, the initial six-week decline removed about 33,000 BTC from exchanges, lowering balances roughly 2.5% from 1.337 million on June 12 to 1.304 million on July 28.
Exchange Supply Reversal
Santiment's Supply on Exchanges metric captured the entire decline and subsequent refill within one data series, with balances bottoming on July 28 and climbing to ~1.332M by August 16.
ETF Inflows and Exchange Reserves
Strong ETF inflows and rising exchange reserves measure different parts of bitcoin's market structure, allowing them to occur simultaneously without creating a data conflict. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs drew $853.54 million during the first full week of August, posting five consecutive sessions of net inflows.