Bitcoin Totters as Long-Time Buyers Cash Out

Bitcoin investors are still cashing out—and the pressure is starting to show.

The unmoved bitcoin signals sustained selling by long-term holders.

Two months after the token hit a record high above $126,000, Bitcoin has fallen nearly 30 percent and is struggling to find support.

Long-time holders have not stopped selling.

Coins held for years are being divested at the fastest pace just as the market’s ability to absorb them is fading, David Pan reported for Bloomberg News.

According to a report from K33 Research, the amount of Bitcoin that had remained unmoved for at least two years has declined by 1.6 million coins since early 2023, roughly equivalent to $140 billion.

This signals sustained selling by long-term holders. In 2025 alone, nearly $300 billion worth of Bitcoin that had been dormant for more than a year has re-entered circulation.

CryptoQuant, a blockchain analytics firm, reported that the past 30 days saw one of the heaviest distributions by long-term holders in more than five years.

“The market is experiencing a slow bleed characterized by steady spot selling into thin bid liquidity, creating a grinding decline that’s harder to reverse than leverage-driven capitulation events,” said Chris Newhouse, director of research at Ergonia, a firm specializing in decentralized finance.

For much of the past year, that selling pressure was absorbed by a surge in demand from newly launched exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and crypto investment firms.

But that demand has faded. ETF flows have turned negative, derivatives volumes have dropped, and retail participation has thinned. The same supply is now hitting a weaker market with fewer active buyers.