Long-term Bitcoin holders ‘pump the selling brakes’ as consolidation continues: analyst

“One of the biggest misconceptions about Bitcoin is that HODLers never sell,” said chain analyst James Check on X on December 3rd. However, they are selling and currently preventing prices from rising, he added.

Bitcoin has been capped, hovering around $95,000 since November 20, two weeks ago. It failed to post a new all-time high, but remains on price discovery as long-term holders are “pumping the brakes on the sell side,” Check said.

Pumping the Bitcoin Brakes

At the moment, markets are about six times out of the FTX cycle low, “and the market has hit resistance, cut off and corrected from similar levels in the previous two cycles,” he added in a note on December 2 However, it has still advanced to massively higher highs.

The analyst compared the market to a car, with demand as the accelerator and sell-side pressure as the brakes. Demand is “pedal to the metal,” with Michael Saylor and local Bitcoin ETFs hitting the buy side, he said, before adding:

“If the long-term holders are pumping the brakes on the sell-side to the same extent, the car isn’t going anywhere.”

One of the biggest misconceptions #Bitcoin it’s just that HODLers and OGs never sell.

They absolutely do, so I wanted to break down not just when, but at what levels of profit.

My last analysis is pending @_checkonchain subscribers (post in the tweet below). pic.twitter.com/4jZlOl5oSI

— _Chess and checkmate ⚡☢️️ (@_Escacmatey_) December 3, 2024

After a monthly parabolic candle from $26,000 in November to the psychological barrier of $100,000, a period of consolidation where the asset can build a market structure is a healthy phase.

On-chain analytics platform Glassnode agreed, reporting that daily realized profits on exchanges have cooled significantly, representing a 42% drop from their mid-November peak.

“This sharp decline indicates a reduction in profit-taking activity, suggesting that the market has entered a consolidation phase.”

After reaching an all-time high of $99.4 thousand, #Bitcoin it has fluctuated between $92,000 and $98,000 in the past week.

Daily realized profits on the exchanges have cooled significantly, now at $277 million per day. That represents a 42% drop from its peak of $481 million a day on November 16.

This steep decline… pic.twitter.com/atXIrKJjHA

— glassnode (@glassnode) December 3, 2024

Bitcoin fell to $93,700 on December 3 as political tensions in South Korea rose, but recovered to $96,000 during the Asian trading session on Wednesday morning, keeping it within its lateral channel.

Analyst ‘Rekt Capital’ reported that BTC continues to retest the series of lower highs as support, adding that as long as this continues, the asset should be able to recover the ~$96,400 support area, that was played a couple of hours ago.

#BTC

Bitcoin continues to retest the series of lower highs as support

Producing longer and longer wicks

Get liquidity at lower and lower prices without losing the trend line

As long as this continues, BTC should be able to regain support at ~$96400$BTC… https://t.co/AB1izNbYO7 pic.twitter.com/g9gzNXRwN5

— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) December 4, 2024

Elsewhere on Crypto Markets

Total market capitalization is at an all-time high of $3.67 trillion, and altcoins are driving it right now.

Today’s big movers are Binance Coin (BNB), which gained 15% to hit an all-time high of $771, and Tron (TRX), which rose 68% to an all-time high of 0.43 dollars during initial trading in December. 4.

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