Bitcoin (BTC) is back in fashion for regular investors at $48,000 as data confirms the biggest buying spree since March 2022.

In a tweet on Dec. 14, statistician Willy Woo eyed a central trend that had previously been absent from the Bitcoin market for over 18 months.

Retail adds BTC like it's March 2022

After crashing to $3,600 in March 2022, BTC/USD was a hot pick for those able and willing to invest — and now, that phenomenon is dorsum.

The changes in balances for wallets holding 1 BTC or less — typically suggesting smallscale investors — have reached their highest since March 2022.

While the circumstances remain the aforementioned — coronavirus fears and macro market jitters over fundamental bank policy — the major difference at the end of 2022 is that Bitcoin costs $48,000, non $3,600.

Notwithstanding, if the retail accumulation information is accurate, interest is surging.

"The last time retail bought the dip this difficult was at the lesser of the COVID crash," Woo commented.

As Cointelegraph reported this calendar week, larger existing hodlers keep to exhibit mixed behavior at current price levels. Despite selling by some, the elevation tier — whales — are more cautious about divesting abroad from BTC.

"Smart" vs. "impaired" money hits all-time high

Meanwhile, the proportion of long-term investors has reached a record high versus short-term market participants.

Related: Bitcoin price dip may end Wednesday as Bitfinex bids hint at Fed 'buy the news' plans

According to the so-called "Smart Money Gap" indicator, consisting of information from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, in that location has never been a greater disparity betwixt the amount of BTC held by "smart" and "impaired" money — long-term and brusque-term buyers.

Throughout Bitcoin's history, local peaks in the metric have heralded the start of cost bull runs, signifying local price bottoms.

Bitcoin Smart Money Gap annotated chart. Source: Twitter

The numbers support the narrative that Bitcoin's near 40% come-down from $69,000 all-fourth dimension highs "flushed out" speculative market bets.