Bitcoin’s ’Diamond Hands’ Start Cashing Out—Long-Term Holder Supply Drops for Second Straight Month

After months of hodling through volatility, Bitcoin’s long-term investors are finally taking profits—supply held by wallets with 1+ year tenure just saw its second consecutive decline.

Market psychology shift or smart profit-taking? The move follows a sustained accumulation period where ’strong hands’ shrugged off every 20% dip like it was Monopoly money.

Meanwhile, Wall Street analysts scramble to explain the trend—when they’re not busy downgrading crypto stocks they pumped three weeks prior.

Long-Term Bitcoin Holders Supply Cools Off

Several technical indicators are pointing to a continuation of Bitcoin’s upward trend despite a slight pullback on Wednesday. As the flagship asset gears up for another rally, Glassnode, a leading financial and on-chain data platform, has underlined a key shift among BTC’s long-term holders, often considered seasoned investors.

Following a period of steady accumulation and HODLing behavior, long-term BTC holders’ supply has shown hesitancy as prices grow. This indication of hesitancy has raised concerns about Bitcoin’s uptrend and whether these investors are starting to reevaluate their positions in response to waning price performances.

Glassnode highlighted that the long-term holders’ supply ticked down for the second consecutive time in May, indicating growing, weakened conviction among seasoned holders. The decline comes after the holders’ supply surged from 13.66 million BTC in the middle of March to about 14.29 million BTC.

The on-chain platform further revealed that BTC’s long-term holders’ spending experienced a notable surge, rising to the 0.43 range as indicated in the LTH Spending Binary Indicator metric in the 7-day time frame. Thus, Glassnode has flagged the development as one that needs close observation since these inflections can intensify rapidly, frequently leading to local market tops.

Even though Bitcoin’s LTH supply decline may not yet indicate weakness, it adds a level of complexity to the asset’s renewed upward movements. Should the trend continue, it is likely to influence BTC’s direction, leading to a correction in the short term.

Realized Price For Long-Term BTC Holders Grows

In another report on the X platform, Glassnode drew attention to a rise in BTC’s long-term holders’ realized price. After examining the bitcoin Long/Short-Term Holders On-Chain Basis, the metric shows that LTH’s realized price has increased to the $45,340 level, signifying an important turning point that highlights the growing conviction of seasoned investors.

The Bitcoin Long/Short-Term Holders On-Chain Basis metric, which represents the average purchase cost of Bitcoin held for 155 days or more, has been increasing persistently, suggesting that long-term holders are steadily accumulating the asset at higher price levels. According to Glassnode, this reflects the aging of coins purchased between the $90,000 to $100,000 price range transitioning into long-term status. 

With the 155-day cut-off, the metric shows that BTC buyers from December 24 are now classified as long-term holders, which progressively raises the group’s cost basis. A steady rise in the cohort’s cost basis supports the thesis that seasoned investors are still optimistic about BTC’s future performance.