I agree with OP's statements and with the current market condition of btc, I would say people are now  affected with the market crush and most likely prefer to hold their btc until it may recover again. The current situation is a reverse of what had happened last year and  most probably there will be no bull market this month as everyone was expecting to happen. In such case, if market condition will continuously drop, need to use their btc for their payment transaction so that btc will continue to evolve in the market.