OTC Desk Holdings
- 1M1M
- 3M3M
- 6M6M
- 1Y1Y
- ALLALL
- LinearLinear
- LogLog
About this metric
What it measures
OTC Desk Holdings sums BTC held in addresses attributed to the tracked over-the-counter desks. It measures visible wallet inventory in BTC, not the value or volume of trades arranged away from public exchange order books.
How to read it
Inventory growth means more coins are parked in the tracked desks’ wallets; declines mean that visible stock is being reduced. The recorded balance peaked near 16,856 BTC on April 30, 2020, compared with about 5,243 BTC in October 2022 and 766 BTC in October 2025, showing a much smaller observed inventory in later years.
Desks may arrange trades without holding the coins in these addresses, so the series is not a census of OTC liquidity. Client settlement, wallet rotation and changing coverage can all alter inventory. A falling balance alone cannot distinguish strong demand from a shift toward settlement elsewhere.
- Frequency
- Daily (UTC 00:00)
- Asset
- BTC
- Category
- Institutions & Exchanges
- Type
- Single value
- Unit
- BTC
- Data since
- 2018-08-14
- Latest data
- 2026-10-27
- Data points
- 2,997
FAQ
Does OTC Desk Holdings measure all bitcoin available OTC?
No. It measures the BTC balance in the identified desk wallets only. Desks can source or settle coins elsewhere, so their ability to execute trades need not match this visible inventory.
Does a lower OTC balance mean institutions are buying more bitcoin?
It is consistent with coins leaving the tracked inventory but does not identify the recipients or their motives. Customer withdrawals, custody changes and reduced desk inventory can produce the same pattern.
How is OTC desk balance different from OTC trading volume?
Balance is a stock at a point in time; volume counts transactions over a period. The same coins can turn over repeatedly, so a small wallet balance does not necessarily imply low trading activity.
