GlossaryExchange netflow
Exchange netflow
Exchange netflow shows how much net value flowed onto exchange wallets in a day: inflows minus outflows, in US dollars. It helps you judge whether coins are moving to exchanges to be sold or being withdrawn into self-custody.
How to read it
- Inflows: Coins on an exchange are usually ready to be sold, swapped or used as collateral for derivatives. Sustained net inflows, especially after a strong rise, count as a warning sign of selling pressure.
- Outflows: Coins go into self-custody and are more likely to be held. Longer stretches of net outflows often accompany phases in which the market is accumulating.
- Individual columns say little. Large spikes often come from an exchange shifting holdings between its own wallets or a large custodian moving coins. Watch the sequence over several days and weeks and read it together with the price.
Limitations
- Attribution: Which addresses belong to exchanges is based on known and identified wallets. New or unknown exchange addresses are missing, and internal transfers can appear as flows. Netflow is therefore an estimate, not a complete ledger.
- US dollars instead of coins: When the price rises, the columns get larger even if the same number of coins flows. Comparisons across years are distorted as a result.
- Daily values: On an hourly chart, the same value stands for a whole day. On weekly and monthly candles, each candle shows the netflow of the day it begins, not the sum over the whole candle.
- Only for Bitcoin and Ethereum. On other symbols, the pane reads “Only available for Bitcoin and Ethereum.”