On Tuesday, Bitcoin took a hit with its price losing the $90,000 level once again due to a general market drawdown. Even with the price of BTC experiencing a pullback below the pivotal level, investors’ sentiment remained strong, as evidenced by a sharp drop in selling pressure across the market.

Selling BT Long-Term Bitcoin Investors Falls Drastically

The Bitcoin price movement has turned bearish as the crypto market becomes increasingly volatile, but investors are demonstrating an encouraging trend. A clear indication of the encouraging trend from BTC investors is their renewed willingness to hold onto their coins rather than sell them off.

According to the report from Frank, a crypto expert and BTC market quant, this declining selling pressure is observed among long-term holders. Currently, selling pressure from the cohort has fallen to remarkably low levels, which reflects a notable shift in market behavior and sentiment.

Typically considered as the network’s most conviction-driven players, these investors continue to refrain from selling their BTC, causing the Long-Term Holder Sell-side Risk Ratio to fall to its lowest level in the past year. When selling pressure from the group decreases, it often implies confidence in future price increases or the conviction that current levels do not yet warrant selling.

Frank highlighted that the last time the Long-Term Holder Sell-side Risk Ratio reached this low, it was the $49,000 bottom following the Yen carry trade unwind. A few months later, the price of BTC witnessed a rally to a new all-time high. Should BTC follow the same trend as last time, a major price surge might be on the horizon. As a result, the expert is highly confident in BTC’s short-term and medium-term prospects.

Investors On Crypto Exchanges Are Losing Interest In Selling

Selling pressure has also reduced on major centralized exchanges, especially on Binance. On the platform, large investors or whale transactions involving BTC movement into the exchange are steadily declining. In other words, significantly less Bitcoin is being sent to trading platforms by large holders compared to earlier.

Unlike retail investors, whales are typically seen as a more cautious kind of BTC holders and are less susceptible to changes in the market. Data shows that whale inflows have been divided by and are currently valued at around $2.74 billion. At the end of November 2025, these inflows to Binance surged, reaching an average monthly total of nearly $8 billion when BTC’s price drops back below the $90,000 mark.

Currently, daily movements are far less frequent compared to the cluster seen at the end of November. This shift in dynamics indicates that whales have changed their behavior and are no longer selling aggressively, leaning more toward a waiting strategy. In the meantime, the holding action appears to be encouraged by the current consolidation period, which greatly lessens the selling pressure from whales, whose impact on the market can be substantial.

Bitcoin prices continue to consolidate within the $95,000 zone following the pullback in the latter part of the past week. The premier cryptocurrency is experiencing a bullish January performance marked by a net gain of 11.42% since the new year commenced. However, the effects of the extended price correction from Q4 2025 linger. Using recent on-chain data, a market analyst with the username MorenoDV_ has identified certain holder cohorts who are still experiencing extreme psychological stress that could impact future price trajectory.

Bitcoin Market Risk Redistribution Ongoing – Here’s Why

In a QuickTake post on January 17, MorenoDV_ postulates that the Bitcoin bull cycle remains on despite the negative events of Q4 2025. Notably, the crypto market leader experienced a heavy 33% price correction after hitting its current all-time high ($126,198) in early October.

Although Bitcoin has recorded some modest price recovery in the past month, significant expectations of a bear market remain, driven by a diminished market demand and failure to reclaim key technical levels such as the 365-day MA. Using the data from the Realized Price by UTXO Age Bands, MorenoDV explains that the Bitcoin market is actively redistributing risk. This positive development counters the bearish narrative of a market cycle ending.

With the present spot price around $95,583, the CryptoQuant metric shows that psychological stress is unevenly distributed among Bitcoin holders. Notably, short-term holders, i.e., 1w-1m and 1m-3m cohorts, have realized prices, i.e., $89,255 and $93,504, respectively, below the spot price. This data suggests that these classes of investors are in profit and are experiencing low market pressure, which helps keep fear at bay.

However, mid-term holders of 3m-6m and long-term holders of 6m-12m have realized prices of $114,808, and $100,748 both of which are significantly above the present spot price. However,  both holder cohorts have chosen to bear the discomfort by absorbing losses rather than initiating an aggressive redistribution. 

Therefore, as the spot price rises towards the realized price levels of these stressed cohorts, losses are expected to significantly reduce, eventually easing these pressures on these classes of holders and balancing the market risk. This market development only occurs if the 3m-6m and 6m-12m continue to interpret the present market drawdown as a mere cyclical discomfort rather than a change in market structure. Therefore, there is a need for a sustained bullish narrative and constructive price behavior to keep these investors from seeking a market exit.

Bitcoin Price Overview

At press time, Bitcoin trades at $95,265, reflecting a modest 5.3% gain in the last week. 

Bitcoin has pushed above the $97,000 level, extending a recovery that has brought short-term relief to a market weighed down by weeks of uncertainty. While the move has reignited optimism among some investors, a large share of analysts remains cautious, arguing that the rally could still be a counter-trend bounce within a broader bearish setup for 2026.

Price strength alone, however, does not fully explain the current move. According to a CryptoQuant analyst, Bitcoin has shown notable resilience after decisively breaking the $94,200 resistance zone and accelerating toward the $97,500 area, with on-chain data offering important context behind the advance.

One of the key indicators supporting this move is Value Days Destroyed (VDD), a metric that sheds light on long-term holder behavior. VDD measures how long coins remained inactive before being spent, weighted by transaction size. In simple terms, it helps distinguish whether price movements are driven by experienced holders distributing old coins or by newer coins changing hands.

As of January 2026, VDD is hovering around 0.53, a historically low reading. This implies that the coins currently moving on the network are relatively young, while older holdings remain largely dormant. Such behavior suggests that long-term holders are not rushing to sell into strength, lending structural support to the recent breakout—even as the broader market debates whether this surge marks renewed strength or merely a temporary reprieve.

Long-Term Holders Reinforce Bitcoin’s Breakout Quality

The report by Carmelo Alemán, Verified On-Chain Analyst at CryptoQuant, highlights an important dynamic behind Bitcoin’s recent move above key resistance levels. Despite the sharp price appreciation, long-term holders remain largely inactive. In practical terms, this means that investors who have held Bitcoin through multiple cycles are not using the current strength as an opportunity to exit positions. Their restraint significantly improves the quality of the rally.

Historically, this behavior has mattered. When Bitcoin advances while Value Days Destroyed (VDD) stays low, it signals that older coins are not entering circulation. Demand is being met primarily by younger supply, allowing price to rise without triggering structural selling pressure from the most experienced market participants. These phases have often aligned with healthier expansion periods rather than short-lived speculative spikes.

The current breakout fits that historical pattern. Bitcoin’s move through resistance has not been accompanied by a surge in long-dormant coins being spent. Instead, long-term capital appears comfortable holding through higher prices, suggesting confidence in the broader market structure rather than urgency to lock in gains.

This supportive backdrop remains conditional. As long as VDD stays suppressed, the rally retains a strong foundation. However, a sustained increase in the indicator would change the narrative, signaling that long-term holders are beginning to distribute and potentially marking a shift toward heavier selling pressure.

Price Tests Key Resistance After December Rebound

Bitcoin price is trying to stabilize after a sharp rebound from the December lows, with the chart showing BTC reclaiming the $96,000–$97,000 zone. This level coincides with a confluence of technical factors, making it a critical area for short-term direction. The recent recovery followed a strong sell-off from the November highs. Where the price broke below the 50-day and 100-day moving averages and briefly capitulated toward the low $80,000s.

From a structure perspective, BTC is now printing higher lows on the daily timeframe, signaling a potential short-term trend reversal. Price has also reclaimed the 50-day moving average, which often acts as dynamic resistance during downtrends. Holding above this level would be constructive, as it suggests buyers are regaining control after weeks of distribution and volatility.

However, overhead resistance remains significant. The 100-day and 200-day moving averages, currently clustered between $100,000 and $108,000, represent a heavy supply zone where previous breakdowns occurred. A failure to push higher could lead to renewed consolidation or a pullback toward the $92,000–$94,000 support range.

Volume has increased during the rebound, showing genuine participation rather than a low-liquidity bounce. Still, the broader trend remains unclear. For bullish momentum, Bitcoin needs acceptance above $97,000 and a clear attempt toward the $100,000 psychological level. Otherwise, the move risks being a technical rebound within a larger corrective phase.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

On-chain data shows tokens aged between 3 and 5 years old have just moved on the Bitcoin network with two large transactions.

3 To 5 Years Old Bitcoin Supply Has Seen Movement Recently

As pointed out by CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn in a new post on X, two transactions involving old tokens have just occurred on the Bitcoin blockchain. The on-chain metric of interest here is the “Spent Output Age Bands,” which tracks how many tokens that the various coin age groups or “age bands” are moving on the network.

In the context of the current topic, the age band of interest is the one containing coins that have been dormant for between three and five years. Here is the chart for the Bitcoin Spent Output Age Bands shared by Maartunn that shows the data specifically for this cohort:

As is visible in the above graph, the Bitcoin Spent Output Age Bands have captured two large transactions from the 3 to 5 years age band during the past couple of days. The first of these involved 539 BTC, while the second moved 1,566 BTC.

The 3 to 5 years age band corresponds to coins that were purchased between January 2021 and January 2023, essentially covering the cycle spanning over the 2021 bull market and 2022 bear market. Thus, the tokens that have just been moved were held by investors who had been sitting silent since buying in the previous cycle.

“Dormant supply waking up is often a signal—either smart money rotating or early holders exiting,” explained the analyst. It now remains to be seen whether these transactions were a temporary deviation or if long-term holder whales will make more such moves in the near future.

In some other news, CryptoQuant has shared its 2025 review of digital asset exchange activity. One interesting finding is that stablecoins are heavily concentrated on Binance, with the exchange holding a combined $47.6 billion in USDT and USDC reserves. This is equivalent to 72% of the stablecoin holdings across the ten largest exchanges.

Binance also dominated 2025 in spot trading activity, recording close to $7 trillion in volume.

Binance’s dominance of trading volume wasn’t quite as stark as that of its stablecoin reserves, however, as it made up for 41% of the total spot volume among the top 10 platforms. The exchange’s share of the futures trading volume was similar, coming out at 42%.

Overall spot and futures trading volume in the cryptocurrency sector grew during 2025 compared to the end of 2024, but the yearly growth rate declined.

BTC Price

Bitcoin has been moving sideways recently as its price is still trading around the $92,200 level.

On-chain data shows the Bitcoin long-term holder outflows have been declining recently, a potential sign that selling pressure may be fading.

Bitcoin Long-Term Holder Netflow Is Getting Less Negative

In a new post on X, on-chain analytics firm Glassnode has talked about the latest trend in the netflow associated with the Bitcoin long-term holders (LTHs). The LTHs refer to BTC investors who have been holding onto their coins for a period longer than 155 days.

Statistically, the longer an investor holds onto their coins, the less likely they become to sell them at any point. As such, the LTHs with their long holding time are considered to include the resolute hands of the market.

Though, while these HODLers tend to be patient, they have shown several phases of distribution during the last couple of years. Below is the chart shared by Glassnode that shows the trend in the monthly netflow of the Bitcoin LTHs.

As is visible in the graph, the Bitcoin LTHs observed streaks of net outflows during both the bull rallies of 2024, suggesting that the diamond hands of the market participated in profit-taking.

A short phase of distribution also appeared in mid-2025, indicating that the LTHs were doing yet another wave of profit realization. This selling was followed by a brief period of net inflows for the cohort, which was then followed by another wave of distribution in late 2025.

This last phase of distribution is still ongoing, as the monthly netflow associated with the LTHs remains negative. The latest selloff has been a bit different from the last three, however, as it has occurred alongside bearish momentum in the cryptocurrency, not a price jump.

While the distribution has continued, its intensity has been dropping lately as the netflow of the Bitcoin LTHs has been becoming less negative. As the analytics firm explains:

Net outflows have rolled over from extreme levels, indicating that the market is progressively absorbing long-held supply and that a large portion of overhead supply may now be largely worked through.

The decline in net outflows has come alongside a drop in the Realized Profit of the group, as Glassnode has pointed out in another X post.

The Realized Profit here is an indicator that measures the total amount of profit that LTHs are realizing through their transactions. From the chart, it’s apparent that the profit-taking from the cohort was elevated earlier, but recently, the Realized Profit has dropped to a low level.

The analytics firm noted:

Such conditions are often associated with heightened uncertainty and tend to emerge during mid-bull market pauses or the early stages of deeper bear markets.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $91,800, down almost 3% in the last seven days.