Bitcoin Profit-Taking Slows as Long-Term Holders Hold Steady in August

The tempo of profit-taking by veteran Bitcoin (BTC) holders has cooled off in August as they resist promoting, signaling a shift in market dynamics after a record-breaking July.

Information shared by on-chain analytics platform Glassnode shows realized earnings by long-term holders, measured over a seven-day transferring common, have dipped sharply from July’s $1 billion per day streak, which had marked one of many heaviest promoting intervals within the asset’s historical past.

Lengthy-Time period Holders Dig In After Historic Revenue Run

Based on Glassnode, in contrast to the profit-taking waves between November and December 2024, which have been dominated by short-term holders who had purchased BTC six to 12 months earlier than, the most recent exercise is being led by long-term holders, particularly those that’ve been hoarding the OG cryptocurrency because the 2020-2022 cycle. These three-to-five-year buyers at the moment are realizing positive factors, whereas the remaining seem content material to journey out present worth ranges, regardless of it hovering close to the all-time excessive of $123,091 set simply weeks in the past.

On-chain indicators are additionally pointing to altering market composition. Latest CryptoQuant knowledge revealed a rise in smaller, retail-sized orders dominating BTC futures exercise, with the variety of institutional-sized whale trades dropping since late Q2 2025.

Whereas in earlier cycles, markets dominated close to their peaks by heavyweight patrons have been typically seen as indicators of distribution phases, the present retail-heavy construction might permit costs to check new highs except a renewed wave of huge holders offloads their positions.

In the meantime, community progress stays sturdy. Earlier at this time, analyst Ali Martinez tweeted that greater than 364,000 new BTC addresses have been created day by day final week. He mentioned that it was the very best determine in a yr, suggesting contemporary retail participation at the same time as institutional flows momentarily taper off.

Cooling Momentum?

Trying on the market, on the time of this writing, BTC was altering palms for about $121,224, up a modest 2.6% within the final 24 hours and a extra stable 5.9% over seven days, after briefly surpassing $122,000 in intraday strikes.

Whereas the uptick is a extra spectacular 97.9% year-on-year, zooming in reveals BTC’s momentum softening in comparison with its July surge. Within the final two weeks, the primary crypto rose by a modest 1.9%, with the development over 30 days being simply 2.6%.

The cooling narrative is strengthened by current market metrics, with CryptoQuant’s Bull Rating Index falling from 80 to 60 on August 10, suggesting a slowdown within the bullish section. Moreover, stablecoin inflows have gone down, a possible indicator that there’s little capital coming into crypto in the meanwhile.