Bitcoin’s price has struggled to maintain stability above $102,000 in recent days, and data shows this is due to an apparent imbalance between selling pressure and demand for new products.
On-chain data from CryptoQuant shows that while long-term holders have been actively taking profits, the market is showing limited ability to absorb their sell-off. This contrasts with earlier phases of the bull run, where rising demand was able to offset increased long-term holder activity.
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Long-term bullish holder selling pressure mirrors past bull cycles
Data from the on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, which was initially shared by Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant, shows an interesting change in the dynamics among Bitcoin holders’ activity, which could determine the cryptocurrency’s next step.
Julio Moreno explained that long-term selling (LTH) is a normal pattern in bull markets, as investors take profits when Bitcoin approaches or exceeds all-time highs. CryptoQuant’s data shows that the sum of 30-day LTH spend, shown by the purple line in the chart below, has increased since early October.
This behavior follows previous bullish rally phases, such as the one in early and late 2024, when profit-taking coincided with growing demand, sending Bitcoin soaring to new all-time highs.
The graph accompanying Moreno’s post shows green areas representing periods of positive apparent demand growth, and red areas indicating contraction. LTH sales took place from January to March 2024 and from November to December 2024 as demand grew.
Long-term Bitcoin holder spending
However, since October 2025, that trend has reversed. Even as LTH sales have increased, demand has entered a red zone, showing that the market’s ability to absorb this selling pressure has weakened. This coincided with Bitcoin’s struggle to maintain its position above $102,000, suggesting that price growth could lose momentum.
Continued weak demand could delay the next rally
Moreno noted that the critical factor to watch is not just the volume of long-term shareholder sell-offs, but also whether demand growth can keep pace.
When demand is strong, the influx of supply from long-term owners often creates healthy consolidation before another price increase occurs. On the other hand, when demand lags, it often leads to long-term corrections or sideways moves.
Much of that demand is now coming from Spot Bitcoin ETFs, which have seen a sharp slowdown in inflows. Facts from SosoValue shows that the US-based Spot Bitcoin ETFs ended last week with a net outflow of $558.44 million on Friday, November 7, one of the largest single-day outflows in weeks.
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Unless Bitcoin’s apparent demand starts to recover in the coming weeks and the LTH sell-off continues, this could continue to weigh on price action and delay the next leg of Bitcoin’s rally. In this case, we could see Bitcoin consolidate between $101,000 and $103,000 for the rest of November.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $101,655, down 0.6% in the past 24 hours.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView