Long-term holders sell Bitcoin around $80.000

Bitcoin is struggling to break through the resistance around $80.000. On-chain data from CryptoQuant shows that long-term holders, who have held their Bitcoin for more than six months, are taking relatively more profit than short-term holders. That selling behaviour is putting pressure on the price, which stands at $79K at the time of writing, a decline of 1.2% over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin is available at OKX and Bybit.

In short:

• Long-term holders are taking relatively more profit than short-term holders, according to the SOPR ratio.
• The Age-Band UnRealized PnL chart shows that all groups of investors have recently returned to profit.
• Bitcoin stalled around $80.000 and now stands at $79K, a decline of 1.2% in 24 hours.

Long-term holders take profit while the price stagnates

The SOPR ratio, which compares the profitability of sales by long-term holders with that of short-term holders, recently spiked considerably. A high ratio means that long-term holders are selling their Bitcoin at a relatively higher profit than short-term holders. That is exactly what is happening now.

According to analyst xwinfinance, who shared the data via CryptoQuant, this pattern points to selling pressure from a group that has been in profit for some time. They can realise more profit at a price around $80.000 than investors who entered recently.

On-chain data shows recovery for all groups

The Age-Band UnRealized PnL chart shows a notable shift. Where short-term holders and new investors were deeply in the red in the preceding months, nearly all groups returned to profit around the end of August. Long-term holders sit on an unrealised profit of more than 21%, new investors on just over 5%.

That return to profit has historically been a moment for experienced holders to scale back part of their position. This partly explains why the price is struggling to stay above $80.000.

Further price development uncertain

Whether the selling pressure persists depends on how long-term holders behave now that the price is approaching resistance. Earlier, Michaël van de Poppe analysed that Bitcoin could fall towards $74.000 on a pullback, or push through to $82.600 on a recovery.

Demand for Bitcoin has shown mixed signals in recent weeks. Earlier, demand rose to 170,000 BTC in 30 days, pointing to sustained interest. Whether that is enough to offset the selling pressure from long-term holders remains an open question for now.