For the crypto true-blue who accept been in the space since 2017, the market moves over the past few days have acquired flashbacks for some, stirring up long-repressed memories of Bitcoin'southward (BTC) autumn from $xx,000 to $3,000 at what was the start of a long, two-year "crypto winter."

The l% plunge in Bitcoin's cost from only shy of $60,000 on May 10 to a low of $30,000 during the worst part of the May xix sell-off has prompted many to say the peak is in for the 2021 balderdash market, only a recent commodity by Chainalysis main economist Philip Gradwell highlighted some key data points that indicate that the market may all the same take college footing to claim in the months ahead.

BTC/USDT iv-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Corrections larger than 25% are the norm in balderdash markets

To kick things off and bring a fiddling perspective to the matter, Chainalysis pointed out that there have been four other occasions since 2017 where Bitcoin's toll has fallen by more than 25% over a seven-day period. The massive cost collapse to $4,000 in March 2020 is the almost recent example.

While this week's price drop in both Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) followed their recent all-time highs, the current price levels remain elevated from a historical perspective, with farther upside potential after an undetermined period of consolidation.

Gradwell highlighted the fact that at present that the wider cryptocurrency sector has grown in prominence and is part of the mainstream narrative, "The industry needs to answer questions about ecology impact, use cases, illicit activity and regulation."

Winter is NOT coming... yet

Every bit for whether or non another crypto winter is approaching, Gradwell appears inclined to believe that the marketplace is non quite there and referred to the "many differences between at present and the major cost declines in March 2020 and December 2017" equally backing upward this point of view.

The rising popularity of cryptocurrency in 2021 has brought a large number of new entrants into the market place who accept bought large amounts of cryptocurrency, raising the stakes for the market as a whole and increasing the overall market capitalization.

Co-ordinate to Gradwell, on-chain data suggests that:

"Retail is selling on exchanges while institutional investors are simply not buying as much equally before rather than selling."

This information should help to dispel the rumors that institutions take been one of the main driving forces behind the recent sell-off.

Retail dumps while whales accrue

Bitcoin exchange inflows, May 2021 vs. March 2020 vs. December 2017. Source: Chainalysis

As seen in the nautical chart above, Bitcoin inflows to exchanges over the past week were low compared wit previous sell-offs, with 412,000 BTC being deposited over the last three days versus 412,000 BTC deposited on just March 13, 2020.

According to Gradwell:

"This suggests that much of the selling is from people with assets already on exchanges, who tend to be retail investors."

To further dorsum this agreement, Gradwell pointed to the following chart showing the "change in Bitcoin held by mail-2017 investor whales for the fourteen days before the cost bottom of the current and past declines."

Bitcoin investor whale wallets. Source: Chainalysis

As seen in the chart, post-2017 investor "whales" bought 34,000 BTC between May 18 and 19 after reducing their holdings past 51,000 BTC during the two weeks prior, showing a stronger response than did investors in March 2020.

This indicates that while still cautious, whales take been tempted to buy this dip rather than sell into it, suggesting that the larger participants in the crypto economy even so experience at that place is further upside alee for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market in the balderdash run of 2021.

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