[DigitalToday reporter Yeseul Kim (김예슬 기자)] Institutional buying in the bitcoin market rose at a record pace, but overall supply and demand still failed to break out of a net selling trend, data showed.

A CryptoQuant weekly report cited by blockchain media outlet CoinDesk on Friday showed that as of late March, 30-day apparent demand stood at minus 63,000 BTC.

Over the same period, purchases of spot bitcoin ETFs totaled about 50,000 BTC, the largest since October 2025. Strategy (Strateg) also continued accumulating at about 44,000 BTC a month. The two channels absorbed about 94,000 BTC in March. Even so, negative net demand implies other participants, such as retail investors, existing whales, miners and funds, net sold about 157,000 BTC over the same period, according to the calculation.

The report said weakening internal supply and demand was confirmed across several indicators at the same time. Large wallets holding 1,000 to 10,000 BTC shifted from major buyers to aggressive sellers. CryptoQuant called it "one of the most aggressive distribution cycles on record." A year ago, those wallets increased holdings by a combined 200,000 BTC, but they are now down 188,000 BTC. That amounts to a shift of nearly 400,000 BTC from accumulation to distribution in about 18 months.

Mid-sized holders in the 100 to 1,000 BTC range are still maintaining net accumulation. But since October 2025, the annual net increase has fallen by more than 60 percent to about 429,000 BTC from about 1,000,000 BTC. The report stressed that buying has not stopped, but the pace has sharply slowed.

Price and sentiment indicators were also presented as clues supporting weaker demand. Bitcoin's spot price, at $67,000 to $68,000, is about 21 percent above the realised price of $54,286. That means the average holder is still in profit, and CoinDesk reported that this aligns with an observation that such a setup "historically suggests the market has not bottomed." Still, compared with late 2024, when the spot price was above $119,000 and the premium over the realised price was about 120 percent, it has rapidly compressed to 21 percent in 15 months.

The Fear and Greed Index stayed at 8 to 14 over the past month, in "extreme fear," but net inflows into bitcoin ETFs in March exceeded $1 billion. The report said the combination was unusual and interpreted it as suggesting that even when institutional money comes in, it may not spread into broader confidence, with institutions alone buying an "unwanted market." The Coinbase Premium Index also stayed negative after hitting an all-time high in early October 2025, and U.S. buying did not return in a big way even with prices in the $65,000 to $70,000 range, it said.

As short-term catalysts, the report cited Morgan Stanley receiving approval for a bitcoin ETF with a 14 bp, or 0.14 percent, fee. It also cited that Strategy's STRC preferred share product recorded inflows around its ex-dividend date, supporting funds for buying. The report added that the latter also had a limitation in that it is a "single company" running a leverage-based bitcoin strategy.