Exploring the Beneficiaries and Losers When Bitcoin Surpassed $100,000
Bitcoin’s price movement in recent weeks has been relatively stagnant, showing limited upward momentum despite expectations for a year-end surge.
Since the middle of December, Bitcoin has struggled to maintain levels above $100,000, fluctuating mostly between $94,000 and $95,000.
This price range indicates a 5.8% decrease over the past week, with Bitcoin currently trading at $95,657, marking a further 2.5% drop within the last 24 hours.
Who Profited from Bitcoin’s $100,000 Achievement?
During this period of market inactivity, analysts have shifted their attention towards studying investor actions to comprehend the factors influencing Bitcoin’s pricing dynamics.
An analyst from CryptoQuant, Yonsei Dent, has emphasized insights gained from the Spent Output Age Bands (SOAB) indicator.
This measure monitors Bitcoin sales activities based on investors’ holding durations, providing a clearer view of selling pressures among various market participants.
Data shows that investors holding Bitcoin for 6–12 months have been the most active sellers during the recent Bitcoin surge, taking advantage of profits accumulated during the market’s earlier upswing this year.
Interestingly, these investors, who likely purchased Bitcoin around the time of the spot ETF launch in early 2024, have been a primary source of selling pressure, contributing to the current price plateau.
In contrast, long-term holders—those who have retained Bitcoin for over a year—have shown minimal selling activity during this phase.
Additionally, the Binary CDD (Coin Days Destroyed) indicator indicates a drop in older Bitcoin sales in December compared to November.
As a result, many long-term holders remain positive about potential price increases and are maintaining their positions.
Diverse Sentiments Across the Market
Bitcoin’s Open Interest has provided more insights into market direction.
Open Interest represents the total value of active Futures contracts and acts as an indicator of market sentiment and liquidity.
Based on Coinglass data, Bitcoin’s open interest has decreased by 0.69%, amounting to $60.68 billion.
The volume of Bitcoin’s Open Interest has also declined by 1.45% to $94.14 billion.
These decreases signify a reduction in speculative trading, indicating that traders are being cautious given Bitcoin’s stable price movements.
A decrease in Open Interest often indicates lower market participation, which might restrict significant price fluctuations in the short run.
Furthermore, there has been a notable drop in Bitcoin whale transaction activity over the past month.
Information from IntoTheBlock shows that transactions exceeding $100,000 have substantially decreased, plummeting from nearly 40,000 transactions at the beginning of December to just 16,700 as of December 25th.
Whale transactions are often viewed as an indicator of institutional or high-net-worth investor activity, and their decline suggests lowered market confidence or a temporary pause in large-scale accumulation.