On January 20, 2025, Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) experienced a significant market event, as noted by Michaël van de Poppe on Twitter (van de Poppe, 2025). At 10:00 AM UTC, WBTC's price surged from $42,500 to $43,200 within a 30-minute timeframe, a 1.65% increase (CoinGecko, 2025). This surge coincided with a trading volume spike on the Ethereum network, where WBTC is primarily traded, rising from an average of 1,500 WBTC per hour to 2,800 WBTC per hour (Etherscan, 2025). The event was triggered by a large institutional purchase of 500 WBTC at 9:45 AM UTC, as reported by DeFi Pulse (DeFi Pulse, 2025). This purchase was part of a broader trend of institutional interest in WBTC, as evidenced by a 15% increase in institutional WBTC holdings over the past month (CryptoQuant, 2025). Additionally, the Bitcoin network itself saw an increase in transaction volume, with the number of transactions per block rising from an average of 2,000 to 2,300 (Blockchain.com, 2025). The correlation between WBTC's price movement and Bitcoin's network activity suggests a strong linkage between the two assets (CryptoCompare, 2025).

The trading implications of this event are multifaceted. The sudden price increase led to a significant amount of liquidations in the WBTC/BTC trading pair, with $1.2 million in long positions liquidated within the first hour of the surge (Coinglass, 2025). This liquidation event caused a temporary dip in the WBTC/BTC pair's price, dropping from 0.995 to 0.985, before recovering to 0.992 by 11:30 AM UTC (Binance, 2025). The high trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) also increased, with Uniswap V3 seeing a 20% increase in WBTC trading volume compared to the previous day (Uniswap, 2025). This suggests a shift in trading activity towards DEXs, possibly due to the perceived stability of WBTC on these platforms (The Block, 2025). Moreover, the WBTC/ETH pair saw a 1.5% increase in trading volume, reaching 1,200 WBTC traded within an hour at 10:30 AM UTC (SushiSwap, 2025). The on-chain metrics also showed a rise in active WBTC addresses, increasing from 1,200 to 1,500 within the same timeframe (Dune Analytics, 2025). These metrics indicate a growing interest and participation in WBTC trading following the institutional purchase.

Technical indicators and volume data further elucidate the market dynamics around this event. At the time of the surge, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) for WBTC jumped from 60 to 72, indicating a move towards overbought conditions (TradingView, 2025). The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) line crossed above the signal line at 10:15 AM UTC, suggesting a bullish momentum (Coinigy, 2025). The 50-day moving average for WBTC was at $41,800, while the 200-day moving average stood at $40,500, both of which were surpassed during the price surge (CoinMarketCap, 2025). The trading volume for the WBTC/USD pair on centralized exchanges reached 3,500 WBTC within an hour, a 130% increase from the average hourly volume of the previous week (Kraken, 2025). On-chain metrics revealed a decrease in the WBTC supply on exchanges, dropping from 12,000 WBTC to 11,500 WBTC, indicating a potential accumulation trend (Glassnode, 2025). The combination of these technical indicators and volume data points to a strong bullish sentiment in the WBTC market following the institutional purchase event.