Bitcoin Hits Profit-Taking Wall: $11B Dumped as Rally Pauses Below $110K

Short-term holders just cashed out big—$11 billion big—leaving Bitcoin’s bull run gasping below the $110K threshold. The classic ’buy the rumor, sell the news’ play strikes again.

Profit-taking or panic? Either way, the market’s got indigestion after swallowing too much too fast. Traders now face the age-old crypto question: hodl for glory or flip for gain?

Wall Street analysts are already spinning this as ’healthy consolidation’—because nothing says ’healthy’ like a $11B sell-off. Just another day in the casino.

Short-term holder profit-taking intensifies

While the crypto market retraced some of the losses in the weekend tumble, BTC has likely entered a choppy phase as traders digest the rapid, almost 50% run from the April lows, Bitfinex analysts said in a Monday report.

Increased profit-taking by short-term holders could also cap bitcoin’s near-term upside: this investor cohort realized $11.4 billion in cumulative profits over the past 30 days, compared to $1.2 billion in the previous 30-day period, the report noted.

"At these levels, the risk emerges that profit-taking outpaces new demand inflows," Bitfinex analysts wrote. "Unless thereʼs a corresponding rise in new capital entering the market to absorb this supply, prices may begin to stall or even retrace.

"The next few days will be key to gauge whether the dip to $106,000 has set the range lows or a bigger reset is in the cards, the report said. If a deeper pullback materializes, the key level to watch is the short-term holder cost basis around $95,000, the average price this group bought the asset, the authors noted.

Strong inflows to U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs — totaling $5.3 billion in May so far —, low volatility and lack of froth suggest that bitcoin will likely resume its uptrend into the third quarter of the year after a pause, the analysts argued.