# There is a very interesting pattern taking place on Exchanges that we saw once before...

The number of bitcoin sitting on exchanges has been declining as of late, which is rather interesting considering it had been increasing for years.

Before I get into the reasons for this, lets look at the previous example.

Back in mid 2016 we had a similar setup where coins on exchanges were increase for years, then in mid 2016, around the time of the halving, coins started leaving exchanges.

Check it out:

![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmRrbVhrTCUjMzzcxQ3MhBt9Zar2rC8M8RH3AWLXaBKRJJ/image.png)

(Source: https://twitter.com/woonomic/status/1313798073995325440/photo/1)

Pay special attention to that first green arrow above.

This is just American Exchanges but you can clearly see a pattern of bitcoin sitting on exchanges dropping from mid 2016 to mid 2017, before spiking sharply towards the end of 2017 and beyond.

If you look on the far right side of the chart you can see a similar pattern starting to emerge there as well, interestingly enough, also right around the time of its most recent halving.

# Why is this happening?

There are several possible explanations as to why this is happening...

The first one being defi.

People have been pulling bitcoin off of exchanges and parking them in defi for a couple months now.

Currently there is almost 100k bitcoin wrapped on ethereum at this point:

![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmUrkdmxZA7fkYwyimTxq62G4ATDH8UvDHWBgWiQU6KBB6/image.png)

(Source: https://twitter.com/glassnode/status/1313852064720736256/photo/1)

There is also the rise of the dex that sort of goes along with this that is likely playing a role as well.

People don't necessarily need to go to a centralized exchange in order to swap their currency for another.

# The end result is all that matters...

The final possibility is most likely what happened back in 2016 and that relates to miners and whoever else is responsible for pushing the price around.

Pulling coins off of exchanges may be part of an elaborate plan to pump the price, or it may just be coincidence as it relates to halving events.

Either way, with not much available supply it becomes that much easier for the price to go higher.

That is probably what happened back in mid 2016 and seems to happen right around the time of the halvings just as it is now.

There is no guarantee that the current setup will resolve in a similar fashion as the one back in 2016 (with the price of bitcoin exploding higher), but the fact that the coins are moving off the exchange is really all that matters.

There will be less available supply to counterbalance a sudden surge in demand.

Which means, the end result is the same...

A surging bitcoin price and people left scratching their heads why they didn't see it coming...

You did.

Stay informed my friends.

-Doc