“Bitcoin Long-Term Holders Set to Sell 163K BTC, Historical Data Suggests”
Long-term Bitcoin investors have been making some significant moves lately, selling almost 550,000 BTC, which is about 4% of their total holdings. Last week alone, profit-taking hit a new high of over $10.5 billion in a single day. This trend of long-term holders selling off their BTC has been happening consistently each cycle.
Bitcoin recently experienced a drop of 7.6% from its almost $100,000 peak on Nov. 22. This might seem like a big dip, but in bull markets, it’s not uncommon for Bitcoin to correct by 20% or even 30% to shake out excess speculation.
One reason Bitcoin didn’t quite reach $100,000 was because long-term holders were cashing out. In fact, there was a record-breaking $10.5 billion in profit-taking on Nov. 21, according to Glassnode data, marking the highest amount of profit-taking in Bitcoin history.
The selling pressure is coming from long-term holders, who have been offloading their BTC since October. These investors, known as “smart money,” have sold over 549,000 BTC, or about 3.85% of their holdings since September. Interestingly, their selling even outweighed the buying from big players like MicroStrategy and U.S. ETFs.
Looking back at previous bull markets in 2017, 2021, and early 2024, we can see a trend where the percentage drop in long-term holders’ BTC supply gets smaller each cycle. In 2017, it was 25.3%, in 2021 it dropped to 13.4%, and earlier this year it was 6.51%. Currently, it’s at 3.85%. If this pattern continues, we might see another 1.19% drop, which would equate to about 163,031 BTC being sold off.
This selling pressure from long-term holders is not unusual and is actually in line with historical trends. It’s fascinating to see how these smart investors navigate the market, and it will be interesting to see how this trend evolves in the future.
