Analyst identifies who is selling bitcoin above $100,000

Short- and medium‑term investors, along with miners, continue to weigh on the market as the leading cryptocurrency oscillates between $100,000 and $110,000, writes CoinDesk analyst Omkar Godbole. 

He says the price of digital gold has yet to show directional momentum despite inflows into crypto funds, a growing stablecoin market cap and an improving regulatory backdrop in the US.

“Bitcoin has held above $100,000 for 42 straight days — a record streak. Against this backdrop, the question arises: who is selling the asset, offsetting capital inflows into ETFs amid mounting concerns about the United States’ fiscal position?”, — writes Godbole.

Alexander Blum, managing partner at Two Prime, believes bitcoin is undergoing a market regime shift — speculators are gradually being displaced by long‑term investors.

“It is logical that amid heightened geopolitical tensions, speculators and leveraged traders are reducing risk. At the same time, new long-term investors are buying the dip […]. It seems there is currently a balance between these categories [of market participants],” the expert explained.

According to Glassnode, holders of coins aged less than a year have become more active in realising profits. On 16 June they accounted for 83% of all realised profit.

Last week, we highlighted how $BTC wallets that held >12m were the primary profit-takers. But that trend has now flipped. Yesterday:

? <12m cohorts accounted for 83% of all realized profit
? 6–12m holders alone realized $904M — second-highest daily profit YTD pic.twitter.com/gBD8tLCjVG

— glassnode (@glassnode) June 17, 2025

Wallets holding digital gold for six to twelve months “created $904 million of selling pressure” — the second‑largest tally year‑to‑date.

A sizeable contribution to the bearish tone was made by investors holding bitcoin for more than 12 months. Last week, sales by this cohort peaked at $1.2 billion. 

Markus Thielen of 10x Research noted that long‑term investors are also realising assets as ETF demand stabilises.

“This smooths price action and caps the upside. Such dynamics compress volatility, but a breakout is inevitable,” he explained.

Bearish miners

Miners, as ever, contribute meaningfully to selling pressure. 

According to IntoTheBlock, miners’ wallet balances fell from 1.94 million BTC at the end of May to 1.91 million BTC. That implies roughly 30,000 BTC sold over 20 days.

“Miners have to sell continuously. Believe it or not, some long‑term holders are still slowly selling as they manage their USD liabilities. The key point is volume: is the selling or buying happening on high volumes? This is noise and speculative flows that can reverse very quickly,” noted Philippe Bekhazi, head of XBTO, in a conversation with the publication.

On the other hand, miners’ share of spot trading is small — just a few percent. Recently the metric fell to its lowest since 2022. 

The miners’ volume share has just dropped to its lowest point since 2022!

This figure has trended lower each cycle and hit a low of 1% after the 2021 peak. pic.twitter.com/pzKuH8cWD3

— Sentora (previously IntoTheBlock) (@SentoraHQ) June 3, 2025

Accumulation has paused

Overall, the bout of active accumulation by whales and smaller investors seen as bitcoin rallied from early‑April lows around $75,000 has “stalled” after the six‑figure mark was reached.

“The same accumulation patterns started to weaken after bitcoin cleared $100,000. The reason the price advance slowed is likely the emergence of alternatives. Funding rates spiked. Delta‑neutral positions with 15–30% annual yields likely looked attractive enough to reduce risk on directional trades,” noted Jarvis Labs founder Benjamin Lilly.

Delta‑neutral trades involve shorting perpetual futures while simultaneously buying the underlying when derivatives trade at a premium to spot. This arbitrage strategy lets traders earn the price spread while reducing volatility‑related risk. 

Jimmy Yang, co‑founder of Orbit Markets, says that as bitcoin becomes a more stable asset its ability to deliver outsized returns diminishes. He suggested this may have prompted investors to rotate into other assets.

“Although the direction remains upward, investors can no longer count on 10x or 100x returns in a short time. As a result, we are seeing some long‑term holders sell part of their bitcoin reserves to diversify into other asset classes such as equities, gold and private placements — a move that makes sense from a capital‑allocation perspective,” the expert noted.

What next?

Yang says little is likely to happen in the short term — the cryptocurrency is still trading “in tandem with equities and overall risk appetite.”

“Both asset classes are hovering around all‑time highs. If equities break higher, bitcoin will likely follow. With the summer lull, low activity is expected in the short term,” he said.

Blum also suggested that bitcoin needs “to cool off a bit”.

“It is also worth remembering that bitcoin rose from $78,000 in less than two months, so I would expect a correction in any case. Tellingly, the price dips are relatively shallow — a sign of strength ahead of the next leg higher,” the expert said.

Thielen said the nearest support is at $102,000 and resistance at $106,000.

Earlier, CryptoQuant analyst Carmelo Aleman forecast a bitcoin price peak above $200,000 in 2025.