On-chain · Exchange balances
Exchange Flow, explained
How many coins are moving onto and off major exchanges, day by day. How net flow is worked out, what the 7-day average and the ranked verdict show, what the similar past weeks are, and what a change in exchange balances can and cannot tell you.
- Measures
- Net flow
- Coins
- BTC · ETH
- Windows
- 30D · 90D · 1Y · All
- Source
- CoinGlass
the day-to-day change in coins held on exchanges
one at a time
daily readings, from mid-2024
exchange balances and large transfers
What is Exchange Flow?
Exchanges hold coins on behalf of the people trading on them. This chart adds up the balances held on a list of major exchanges and tracks how that combined balance changes. When more coins arrive than leave, the balance rises. When more leave than arrive, it falls.
It is a measure of movement. It shows which way coins moved, and not why.
How net flow is worked out
The data comes from CoinGlass as a daily reading of each tracked exchange’s balance. We add the exchanges together and take the change from one reading to the next. That change is the net flow: positive when the combined balance rose, negative when it fell.
The chart draws the daily net flow as bars and the 7-day average as a line, which adds up the last seven calendar days to show the recent direction. You can choose Bitcoin or Ethereum, and a 30-day, 90-day, one-year or full-history window. The daily history starts in mid-2024.
The verdict banner
Above the chart, the banner ranks the latest 7-day net flow against every week of history on the chart. The rank runs from 0 to 100 and falls into five zones, from heavy outflow through neutral to heavy inflow. The words on the banner, such as “is being bought” or “is being sold”, are labels for which end of the history the flow sits at.
It also says how many weeks in a row the flow has been in the same zone. If there is not enough history to rank against, the banner switches to fixed size thresholds and says so.
Similar past weeks
Next to the chart, a panel lists past weeks whose 7-day net flow ranked close to this week’s, with the price change that followed over the next 7 and 30 days. Summary figures appear only when there are at least five independent cases, so a few weeks are never presented as a pattern.
It is a look back at what happened after comparable flow, not a backtest and not a forecast.
The side panels
Whale alerts list the latest large on-chain transfers in the window. The exchange table shows the five exchanges holding the most coins, with how each balance changed over 30 days.
What the chart does not tell you
A flow number feels like a verdict, which is when it is easiest to over-read. Five things to keep in view.
It sees coins move, never why
A balance can fall because holders withdraw to their own wallets, and it can rise because coins are moved to an exchange for any reason, or because an exchange reorganises its own wallets. The chart cannot tell these apart, so its "bought" and "sold" wording is shorthand for the direction of the flow and not a claim about anyone's intent.
It covers the exchanges in its data source
The balances come from a list of major exchanges. Trades off exchange, over the counter, and coins held by funds are not in the numbers, so the chart describes the tracked exchanges and not the whole market.
The history is short
The daily series starts in mid-2024, so the ranking and the similar past weeks rest on roughly two years. That is a few market conditions, not many cycles.
Similar past weeks are a small sample
The panel shows what price did after weeks with a similar flow. The cases are few and the weeks around them overlap, which is why it only appears when there are at least five independent cases. It describes what happened, and it is not a forecast.
A big transfer is not a trade
The whale alerts list large on-chain transfers. A large transfer can be an exchange moving its own coins, a custody change or a trade, and the alert does not say which.
The chart shows which way coins moved. It cannot show why.
Where it fits
This is an on-chain activity chart, alongside the other on-chain charts that read the blockchain instead of prices. It is not an input to either Heatmeter. It is most useful as context next to the slower on-chain models, to see where coins have been moving over recent weeks.
Common questions
What is the Exchange Flow chart?
A chart of how many coins moved onto or off major exchanges, for Bitcoin or Ethereum. It adds up the balances held on the tracked exchanges, takes the day-to-day change as net flow, smooths it with a 7-day average, and ranks the latest week against every week on the chart. It sits beside the price and does not feed either Heatmeter.
What is net flow?
The change in the combined exchange balance from one daily reading to the next. A positive number means the balance rose, so more coins arrived than left. A negative number means the balance fell, so more coins left than arrived.
Why a 7-day average?
Daily flow is noisy. The 7-day average adds up the flow over the last seven calendar days, so it shows the recent direction instead of a single day. It describes the last week and says nothing about the next one.
What does the verdict banner show?
It ranks the latest 7-day net flow against every week of history on the chart, from 0 to 100, and sorts it into five zones from heavy outflow to heavy inflow. The wording, such as "is being bought" or "is being sold", is a label for which side of the history the flow sits on. If there is not enough history for a ranking, it uses fixed size thresholds instead and says so.
What are the similar past weeks?
Past weeks whose 7-day net flow ranked close to this week's, with the price change that followed over the next 7 and 30 days. The summary figures appear only when there are at least five independent cases, so that a couple of lucky weeks are not dressed up as a pattern. It is a look back at what happened and not a backtest or a forecast.
Why only Bitcoin and Ethereum?
Those are the two coins the exchange balance data is mapped to. The chart does not cover other coins or stablecoins.
Is this a buy or sell signal?
No. It describes which way coins have been moving between exchanges and wallets. Patterns between exchange flows and prices have shown up before, but they are historical observations and not a guide to what happens next.
Related guides
Others in on-chain — What the blockchain itself says about holders, miners, and what people paid for their coins.
- Volume MomentumTrading volume against its own yearly baseline — speculative heat rather than price.
- AHR999Compares today’s price with what buyers have typically paid over the long run — built for spotting cheap stretches.
- Puell MultipleThe daily value of newly issued coins against its yearly average — miner revenue as a cycle signal.
- Cost of ProductionA modelled miner cost floor from difficulty and issuance, and how far price trades above it.
- RHODL RatioThe balance between recently moved coins and long-dormant ones, which peaks near cycle tops.
Every indicator we track — the full glossary.
Open the chart
Everything above is the method. On the chart you can switch between Bitcoin and Ethereum, pick a window, read the verdict banner and the similar past weeks, and see the latest whale alerts and exchange balances.