Fewer And Fewer Holders Willing To Sell Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a deflationary asset with a fixed supply, unlike Ethereum, whose supply increases or decreases yearly depending on network use.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has seen less than 10% of its holders willing to sell their coins as of October 2024, according to on-chain data from the Bitcoin long- and short-term holder supply cycles.

This percentage is down significantly from the 26% of around mid-2021 and the 64% in 2013. Interestingly, this trend shows that both long-term holders (those who bought their coins over six months ago) and short-term holders (those who bought their BTC in less than 155 days) are willing to let go of their coins.

This position comes even as Bitcoin, like any other crypto asset, is volatile, posting sharp price gains or dumps over time.

To put this position in perspective, Bitcoin is down 15% from its all-time high of March 2024. However, it is also up nearly 150% year-to-date after rising from around $27,000 in October 2023. 2022 Bitcoin prices plunged to below $16,000 after soaring to nearly $70,000 in November 2021.

The cyclic nature of Bitcoin isn’t, looking at hard data, dissuading traders who sell whenever prices dump, for example. This shift in trend over the years shows that more holders are positive about the coin’s long-term potential and even as a store of value.

Bitcoin Deflationary vs Ethereum Inflationary

Bitcoin is a deflationary asset with a fixed supply, unlike Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), whose supply increases or decreases yearly depending on network use. There will be only 21 million BTC in circulation, and a decent portion, exceeding 4 million, is irrecoverable.

On the other hand, Ethereum had an initial supply of 72 million ETH, which has been increasing yearly. In 2021, there was a burn of over 2 million ETH, reducing the total supply to around 120 million.

This burn was mainly due to the London hard fork, which introduced a new transaction fee mechanism. Before the fork, there was an unlimited supply of ETH.