Bitcoin holder metrics are currently quietly telling two very different stories, and both provide different interpretations of what to expect from the cryptocurrency’s leading price outlook.
On the one hand, a wave of short holders are rushing to lock in profits in the first sign price increase exchange flood with Bitcoin. On the other hand, the long-term holders, the warring participants of the market, sit on their coins in almost complete silence, ignoring the noise.
Short-term holders pay for strength
Bitcoin barely broke above $70,000 just a few days before the exits flooded. Information by Crypto analyst Darkfrost at CryptoQuant suggests that short-term bearish selling pressure is becoming apparent.
Notably, more than 27,000 BTC of profits were sent to exchanges by short holders in the last 24 hours, a number that sees the current activity among the highest profit readings in recent months. As shown in the table below, the last time most BTC profit was sent to crypto exchanges was in early January 2026.
This is important because short-term holders tend to be the most reactive market participants. They tend to respond quickly to price changes. The short-term profit and loss tracking chart of the exchange holder shows the increase in profit as Bitcoin. tried to get more than $70,000.
It is interesting that the group addresses are currently in use who bought Bitcoin between a week and a month ago at a price of about $68,000. This puts them in a position where even recovery is a chance to overcome the risk. Everyone else in the short-term group is either in harm’s way or under water.
Short-term Bitcoin P&L holder to exchanges. Source: CryptoQuant
Long-term holders send a different message
Long-term holders (LTH), a group defined by holding Bitcoin for more than 155 days, show a level of inactivity that matches the conditions associated with bear market declines. According to The Coin Value Days Expired (CVDD) metric, which measures not only when long-term coins are moved, but also the economic weight of those moves, has a current reading of around 0.34.
In this context, market tops have historically occurred when the CVDD has crossed 2.0, indicating that LTHs are selling heavily. At 0.34, the market is nowhere near that territory. Therefore, long-term holders generally choose to sit back and not contribute to the selling pressure.
As shown in the metric table below, the last time long-term holders saw high selling activity was in early January 2026. This is important because LTHs are not just a passive footnote in the Bitcoin narrative.
They are always the most strategic participants in the crypto industry. Currently, it seems that they are waiting for a higher price to sell or for sale price action gets bad enough to gather more.
BTC: Days of Value Destroyed. Source: @Darkfost_Coc On X
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
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