Long-term Bitcoin holders refuse panic selling

Although the Bitcoin price dropped by nearly 20% in the last seven days, long-term Bitcoin investors, who bought at 2017 highs, have still not sold, data shows.

According to the Hold Waves metric data, coins that last moved in the past six to 12 months now make up the most significant portion of the BTC supply, Cointelegraph reported. The Hold Waves show the periods in which BTC has most recently moved.

Data shows despite substantial gains and equally strong corrections in 2021, those who entered the market or added to their positions in or after November 2020 are refusing to sell.

Hold Waves, which tracks the age distribution of unspent transaction outputs, shows that the supply controlled by those 6-to-12-month holders has increased from 8.7% at the start of June to 21.4% as of November 17.

Meanwhile, coins held for multiple years have decreased only slightly, highlighting that modest selling has taken place and that, except for the six-to-12-month group, investors’ resolve remains steadfast. The data underscores the theory that few BTC owners intend to sell at current prices even as these all-time circle highs.

However, it said distribution of coins by long-term holders — a classic characteristic of bull market peak phases — has now begun, as Cointelegraph reported earlier. The last time this occurred was also in November last year, it said.

The data published by Glassnode also shows that long-term Bitcoin holders avoided panic selling during the recent market correction.

Long-term BTC holders are still holding more than 13.4 million coins, just 100,000 away from the all-time high level of 13.5 million. Thus, only 3% of the overall supply held by long-term Bitcoin holders is at a loss. In terms of short-term holders, people who purchased the crypto asset around the recent top are suffering most of the losses.

“When the Bitcoin market experiences a large sell-off, the change in profitable supply indicates of how many coins have an on-chain cost basis above the current price. Since the all-time high, over 17% of the BTC supply has fallen underwater, leaving 83% of the supply in profit. However, even after a near 20% correction (-$13,500) off the all-time high, long-term holders do not appear to be spending their coins in panic. After peaking at 13.5 million BTC, long-term holders have only distributed 100,000 BTC over the last month, representing just 0.7% of their total holdings,” Glassnode revealed.

After a drop of approximately 20%, the BTC price rebounded quickly in the last 24 hours. The digital asset jumped by more than 8% within a single day. While short-term holders remain uncertain about the future price movements of Bitcoin, long-term holders look set to hold on to their digital assets. “As a proportion of supply (excl. exchanges), the vast majority of long-term holders remain in profit, holding 78.7% of BTC in profit. Only 3% of the supply is held by long-term holders at a loss. Short-term holders who bought the top currently hold the majority of all BTC at an unrealized loss,” Glassnode added.