According to on-chain data, an ancient Bitcoin whale has reawakened after more than a decade of dormancy.

Blockchain data tracker Whale Alert reported that “a dormant address containing 41 BTC worth $2,611,481 has just been activated after 10.7 years.”

The reactivated address is part of a growing trend in which long-dormant Bitcoin wallets — often tied to early adopters or miners — come back to life. The whale in question had not moved any Bitcoin in over 10 years, a period that saw Bitcoin’s massive growth and price advancement.

This sudden awakening aligns with a Bitcoin market cycle unfolding within the broader crypto space.

In a recent tweet, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju shares insights into the Bitcoin market cycle, which falls into three stages.

The first stage, already underway, is when old whales become new whales. The current trend of activation of Old Bitcoins alludes to this fact. The second stage is when new whales become retail investors; the last and third stage is when these retail investors hodl and thus become old whales.

In another tweet, Ju stated that Bitcoin inflows into exchange user wallets remain normal, unlike during the last bear market.

Bitcoin price action

Bitcoin retested $64,000 on Oct. 1 as the BTC monthly close achieved a new September record. The September monthly close of $63,300 cemented 7.3% BTC price gains, according to data from CoinGlass, making it Bitcoin’s best-ever ninth month of the year.

Bitcoin fell to a low of $62,833 on September’s final day before rebounding. At the time of writing, BTC has gained 0.22% in the last 24 hours to $63,991, after reaching intraday highs of $64,106.

In a recent analysis, CryptoQuant indicated that the market might be preparing for the next upward trend. On the chart, CryptoQuant noticed very low Exchange Flow Multiple values before the 2023 rise. The current indicator levels are similarly low, which could signal that the market might be preparing for the next upward trend.