Change of Mindset? Short-term Bitcoin Holders Still Hold Despite Losses

According to a recent post by CryptoQuant Quicktake, short-term Bitcoin holders are choosing to hold onto their digital assets despite experiencing unrealized losses. A contributor to CryptoQuant, Onchained, explained that short-term BTC holders have recorded significantly lower realized losses compared to their unrealized losses. Are short term Bitcoin holders expecting a price increase? The first quarter of 2025 is marked by high price volatility in the cryptocurrency market, including Bitcoin. BTC has dropped from around $97,000 on January 1 to about $83,000 at the time of writing, reflecting a decrease of more than 15%. Despite this price drop, short term BTC holders continue to hold their assets instead of selling at a loss. Contributor to CryptoQuant, Onchained, analyzed the realized net PNL of short term holders for exchanges, highlighting the change in selling behavior. According to analysts, those who hold BTC for one to three months have been the most active sellers in recent days, even at the cost of incurring losses. This is unusual, as short term investors holding BTC for less than a week are typically the most reactive sellers.

However, recent data shows that selling pressure on cryptocurrency exchanges has decreased significantly. This indicates that those who hold BTC and bought their coins in the last six months are choosing to hold their digital assets instead of panicking and selling.

The change in selling behavior among short-term holders can have multiple implications. Reduced selling pressure may indicate a shift in investor sentiment, with holders willing to endure short-term losses in hopes of long-term gains. Although analysts warn that this data does not predict future price fluctuations, it provides valuable insights into market sentiment. The analysis highlights: Will short term holders ultimately maintain their position? If so, this could reduce downward price volatility and set the stage for stability or even a reversal. Onchained concluded that short-term holders currently control 28% of BTC’s circulating supply. If a significant portion of these holders turn to long-term holders, this could pave the way for the price of Bitcoin to skyrocket to over $150,000. Is BTC about to make a comeback? In addition to the decrease in short term selling pressure of BTC, some data related to other exchanges also indicate the potential for a strong price increase for the largest cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalization. Recently, cryptocurrency entrepreneur and market commentator Arthur Hayes stated that BTC “may” have reached the bottom of this market cycle when it dropped to $77,000 on March 10. However, Hayes noted that the stock market could continue to decline. While Bitcoin has been on a downward trend for the past few months, gold has surged to multiple new record highs (ATH) due to ongoing global macroeconomic instability. BTC’s poor performance compared to this precious metal is likely to continue as the threat of U.S. trade tariffs looms. At the time of reporting, BTC is trading at $83,953, up 2.2% in the past 24 hours.