Bitcoin price could slip to $24,000 as short-term holders take profits: Glassnode ⋆ ZyCrypto
Bitcoin hasn’t moved much lately and it has a ripple effect on most cryptocurrencies except recently launched meme coins like PEPE.
This week, the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization traded mostly sideways, creating a tight price squeeze heading into the weekend. On Friday, Bitcoin was trading at $29,000, up 0.33% in the last 24 hours and down about 1% in the last week.
According to onchain analytics firm Glassnode, Bitcoin’s recent behavior may point to constant selling by short-term holders.
Short-term holders offload BTC
In its latest weekly newsletter on the chain, the firm noted that while the majority of supply remains held by the long-term, the weight of short-term investors is currently prevailing over price action within the uptrend.
“Among both long-term and short-term holders sending coins to exchanges, the dominance of short-term holders remains a consistent 90%-95% of the total inflow,” wrote Glassnode. “Notable is the increase in profit taking by STHs in 2023, marked by the deeper dark red zone, which accounts for 58% of currency inflows currently.”
According to the firm, since early January there have been two waves of profit-taking by short-term holders, outstripping the total profit taken by long-term holders. “Within the current market, the second wave of profit-taking by short-term holders is in line with the recent correction,” added it.
The firm noted that as this group continues to sell its coins, the market is likely to experience volatility and Bitcoin could slide downwards.
“We observed that selling pressure from new investors was a key driver establishing resistance at $30k. Should this current correction resume, the cost basis for the young supply owners at $24.4k may well be a psychological level to monitor in the weeks ahead.”
Large whales deviate from buying
However, it is important to note that as short-term holders continue to take profits, large whales of over 10,000 BTC appear to be accumulating. On Friday, Glassnode tweeted that this group has shifted “from a distribution regime to one with aggressive coin absorption.”
“Checkmate,” the lead onchain analyst at the firm, later clarified the tweet, noting that this calculation excludes exchanges. Instead, he noted that it showed the behavior of “ETF-like sinks” but such as MicroStrategy, large institutions, GBTC and WBTC over the past 30 days. This implies that these institutions could have significantly prevented Bitcoin’s price from falling recently.
