Shifting Sentiment? Short-Term Bitcoin Holders Stay Put Despite Losses

According to a recent CryptoQuant Quicktake post, short-term Bitcoin (BTC) holders are choosing to retain their digital assets despite incurring unrealized losses. CryptoQuant contributor Onchained explained that short-term BTC holders have recorded significantly lower realized losses compared to their unrealized losses.

The first quarter of 2025 has been marked by high price volatility in the cryptocurrency market, including Bitcoin. BTC has dropped from approximately $97,000 on January 1 to around $83,000 at the time of writing, reflecting a decline of more than 15%.

Despite this price pullback, short-term BTC holders continue to hold onto their assets instead of selling at a loss. CryptoQuant contributor Onchained analyzed the Short-Term Holder Net Realized PNL to Exchanges, highlighting a shift in selling behavior.

According to the analyst, BTC holders who have owned their coins for one to three months have been the most active sellers in recent days, even at the cost of realizing 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 a significant decline in selling pressure to cryptocurrency exchanges. This suggests that BTC holders who purchased their coins in the last six months are opting to hold onto their assets rather than panic sell.

This shift in selling behavior among short-term holders could have multiple implications. A decline in selling pressure may indicate a change in investor sentiment, with holders willing to endure short-term losses in anticipation of long-term gains.

While the analyst cautioned that this data does not predict future price movements, it does provide valuable insights into market psychology. The analysis states:

Are short-term holders finally holding the line? If so, this could reduce downside volatility and set the stage for stabilization, or even a reversal.

Onchained concluded that short-term holders currently control 28% of BTC’s circulating supply. If a significant portion of these holdings transitions to long-term holders, it could pave the way for Bitcoin’s price to surge beyond $150,000.

Alongside the decline in short-term BTC selling pressure, several other exchange-related metrics suggest the possibility of an upcoming price surge for the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Recently, crypto entrepreneur and market commentator Arthur Hayes claimed that BTC “probably” hit this market cycle’s bottom during its plunge to $77,000 on March 10. However, Hayes noted that the stock market could still experience further pullbacks.

While Bitcoin has been in a downtrend for the past few months, gold has surged to multiple new all-time highs (ATHs) due to ongoing global macroeconomic uncertainty. BTC’s poor performance against the precious metal is likely to continue as the US trade tariff threat looms. At press time, BTC trades at $83,953, up 2.2% in the past 24 hours.