Long-term investors continue to hodl despite $1T Bitcoin market cap

Bitcoin’s (BTC) liquid supply continues to shrink, with only 36% of circulating BTC being moved on-chain in the past six months.

According to data shared by on-chain crypto data aggregator Glassnode on March 21, the peak of the 2017 bull market saw 50% of Bitcoin’s supply circulating within the preceeding six months.

In bull markets old coins tend to move more. This increases the relative supply of younger coins in the network.At previous $BTC tops, around 50% of the #Bitcoin supply was younger than 6 months.We are currently significantly below this level (36%).https://t.co/D40RJ5FlAA pic.twitter.com/OIOnnChpk0

— glassnode (@glassnode) March 21, 2021

The data shows that few long-term investors are tempted to sell their BTC at current price levels, suggesting Bitcoin’s whales are hodling for higher prices and the current bull-trend could have much further to go.

Comparing the age of BTC moved on-chain may offer some insight into market sentiment. When prices hit new peaks, it is natural that older coins will be sold for profit, but that trend appears to be decreasing — suggesting that investors would rather hold on to their assets.

The current supply of BTC is 18.66 million, or 88.85% of the 21 million limit. It has also been reported that around a fifth of all BTC has been lost or stolen, suggesting the actual circulating supply of Bitcoin could be considerably lower, bolstering the scarcity of the asset.

Glassnode data shared by popular crypto analyst Willy Woo on the same day also noted significant on-chain activity while Bitcoin’s market capitalization has been above $1 trillion, with 7.3% of the supply of BTC changing hands while the asset has boasted a 13-figure capitalization.

The data, which illustrates UTXO Realized Price Distribution, or URPD, tracks Bitcoin’s unspent transaction outputs at different prices. Woo stated:

“This is pretty solid price validation; $1T is already strongly supported by investors. I'd say there's a fair chance we'll never see Bitcoin below $1T again.”

“URPD is a lens into price discovery by showing the price when coins last moved assuming they were bought by investors,” he added.

However, Woo noted that on-chain coin movements do not always indicate active trading, with exchanges regularly shifting their digital assets internally.