- Most of these long-term investors cashed in at a loss.
- Older age groups reaffirmed the HODLing story.
Bitcoins [BTC] prolonged phase of low volatility began to test the resilience of diamond hands. According to a July 29 tweet by on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, BTC supply, which last moved between 1-2 years ago, fell to an 18-month low.
???? #Bitcoin $BTC Amount of supply Last active 1y-2y (1d MA) just hit an 18-month low of 2,394,729,027 BTC
View statistics:https://t.co/KyZxmV0H09 pic.twitter.com/Mni0ChxCyL
— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) July 29, 2023
Read Bitcoin [BTC] Price Forecast 2023-24
The sharp drop in unmoved supply suggested that long-term holders (LTH) were liquidating their BTC holdings, signaling a shift away from the popular HODLing narrative.
LTH are known to hoard coins for extended periods of time, at least six months according to Glassnode, and do not easily exit their positions due to market conditions. Of course, the recent sales promotions have aroused curiosity.
Long-term holders capitulate
BTC has been in a tight trading range since reaching its yearly high during the recent rally in June. In the absence of any meaningful price increase, most of these investors may have sold their positions at a loss.
This was also evidenced by the dramatic increase in circulation upon loss. According to Glassnode, after a sharp drop last month, loss-making addresses have risen over the past two weeks.
Source: Glassnode
Moreover, most of these investors bought tokens before the extremes of the 2022 bear market. Despite a strong recovery, the price of BTC has yet to recover to those levels.
The long-term holder of CryptoQuant’s SOPR statistic has dropped below 1 for the past week. Values less than ‘1’ usually suggest that long-term investors paid out at a loss.
Source: CryptoQuant
Nerves of steel
While the age range from 1 year to 2 years registered a decline, older BTC coins remained dormant in investors’ wallets. BTC supply held for more than 2 years rose from 47% in early 2023 to 56% at the time of writing, data showed.
Source: Glassnode
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Similarly, holders who acquired their tokens at least three years ago showed a willingness to keep them locked up in self-custody. This age group made up 40% of the total circulating supply.
The supply that was held for at least five years also increased in the past year.