Market intelligence firm Glassnode says that Bitcoin (BTC) could soon face sell-side pressure from short-term holders (STHs) eager to cash in on the king crypto’s latest price uptick.
In a new analytics report, Glassnode finds Bitcoin’s recent surge to $23,000 pushed 97.5% of its short-term holders into the green at one point during the week, something that hasn’t happened since the top crypto asset by market cap hit its all-time high in November 2021.
The crypto analytics platform defines short-term holders as those holding BTC for less than 155 days.
According to Glassnode, 97.5% of STHs having unrealized gains historically marks that sell pressure is on the horizon.
“Interestingly, during bear markets, when [over] 97.5% of the acquired supply by new investors is in loss, the chance of seller exhaustion rises exponentially. Conversely, when [over] 97.5% of short-term holder supply is in profit, these players tend to seize the opportunity and exit at break-even or profit…
Given this substantial spike in profitability, the probability of sell pressure sourced from STHs is likely to grow accordingly.”
Miners are also selling Bitcoin due to the recent price rally, according to Glassnode.
“With a notable recovery in miner USD-denominated revenues, the resulting behavior shift has switched from accumulation of +8,500 BTC/month, to distribution of -1,600 BTC/month. Miners have spent some -5,600 BTC since 8-Jan and have experienced a net balance decline [year-to-date].”
Other metrics paint a different picture, however. The intelligence firm notes the volume of Bitcoin that hasn’t moved in more than six months has shot up by more than 301,000 since early December, underscoring the conviction of holders.
“This divergence highlights the strength of the HODLing conviction via the recent market rally.”
BTC is trading for $22,678 at time of writing, down 1.16% in the past 24 hours but up 38% from its 30-day low of $16,464.
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