US Institutions Resume Bitcoin Buying As Coinbase Premium Flips Green

bitcoinistPublished on 2026-01-16Last updated on 2026-01-16

Abstract

US institutions have resumed Bitcoin buying activity as indicated by the Coinbase Premium Gap flipping positive amid a price surge toward $97,000. This metric, which tracks the price difference between Coinbase (favored by US institutional investors) and Binance, had been negative for weeks, suggesting American whales were selling or not buying. The recent shift to a premium suggests renewed accumulation by US entities. However, the move is still brief, and sustainability remains uncertain given a similar pattern earlier in the month failed to hold. The rally also triggered significant short liquidations, peaking near $90 million. Bitcoin is currently trading around $96,500, up 8% over the past week.

Data shows the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Gap has turned positive, a sign that American whales have been buying alongside the price surge.

Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Gap Has Surged Recently

As pointed out by CryptoQuant author IT Tech in an X post, the Coinbase Premium Gap has observed a shift as BTC’s latest price rally has occurred. The “Coinbase Premium Gap” measures the difference between the Bitcoin price listed on Coinbase (USD pair) and that on Binance (USDT pair).

This indicator is useful for knowing how the userbases of the two cryptocurrency exchanges differ when it comes to BTC buying/selling behavior. There is some overlap in the traffic of these platforms, but Coinbase, being the preferred exchange of US-based investors, particularly large institutional entities, gives movements on it a distinct character from Binance’s globally distributed userbase.

Now, here is the chart shared by IT Tech that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Gap over the past month:

The value of the metric appears to have turned positive recently | Source: @IT_Tech_PL on X

As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Gap has mostly been inside the negative territory during the last few weeks, indicating that the cryptocurrency has been trading at a lower price on Coinbase compared to Binance. In other words, the American whales have potentially been applying a larger amount of selling pressure or a lower amount of buying pressure than Binance users.

BTC has witnessed a recovery rally during the past few days, and initially, the Coinbase Premium Gap remained inside the red zone, but with the latest leg to $97,000, a shift has occurred. With the indicator now inside the green zone, it would appear possible that the US institutional investors have resumed accumulation of Bitcoin after a near-consistent phase of selling over the past month.

For now, though, the surge into the positive region is still brief, so it only remains to be seen whether the American investors will continue to back the bullish price action in the coming days. Earlier this month, a similar trend developed when Bitcoin saw a rally above $94,000. The Coinbase Premium Gap took a green shade late in that surge, but what followed was a plunge back into the negative zone and a fizzling out for the price rally.

In some other news, the BTC price surge has resulted in a significant amount of short liquidations in the futures market, as analytics firm Glassnode has highlighted in its latest weekly report.

The data for the BTC short liquidations that have taken place over the last several weeks | Source: Glassnode's The Week Onchain - Week 2, 2025

From the chart, it’s visible that Bitcoin short liquidations saw a sharp peak nearing $90 million when BTC first pushed into the $96,000 region during this rally.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $96,500, up nearly 8% in the last seven days.

Looks like the price of the coin has surged over the last few days | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView

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