Recently, something significant happened in the cryptocurrency world—those long-term holders who treat Bitcoin as a family heirloom sold more than 800,000 coins in just one month. This number sounds abstract, but converted to money, at the current price, it amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars. This is not a small matter; it's the largest sell-off since 2024.
Old coins are moving. Especially those antique wallets that are over seven years old, which have recently been selling more than 1,000 coins every hour as if they had all agreed. What does this mean? It’s equivalent to nearly 100 million dollars' worth of Bitcoin flowing from loyal holders to the market every hour. Interestingly, this wave of selling is not a 'panic dump' but rather a steady distribution.
At this time, there are always people pointing fingers at MicroStrategy. After all, this company holds hundreds of thousands of bitcoins and is the largest corporate holder. But guess what— they haven’t sold any. According to official disclosures, as of September 2025, MicroStrategy's holdings have remained stable at around 638,000 bitcoins, and they have been buying continuously throughout 2025 without selling a single coin. CEO Michael Saylor and his team treat bitcoin as the lifeblood of the company, and no matter how volatile it gets, they won't let go. The rumors in the market about "MicroStrategy is going to dump" are purely unfounded. However, this is understandable; when a big whale moves, everyone tends to look for the biggest fish to blame.
So, who is actually selling? Why are they selling? $100,000 is a critical point. After bitcoin broke through this psychological barrier last December, many early players who entered in 2017 and 2018 have seen their profits multiply by hundreds. For them, $100,000 is not the end, but a signal to "take profits." Just think about it, if you bought coins for a few thousand dollars and now they are worth tens of millions, would you sell? Of course, you would. This doesn’t mean they are pessimistic; it’s human nature. It’s like buying a house; if the price triples, there will always be someone willing to sell, but that doesn’t mean the housing market is collapsing.
Aside from taking profits, the deeper reasons lie in the market structure. Recently, institutional funds have been withdrawing, ETFs are experiencing net outflows, and the money in the entire risk asset pool is shrinking. The Federal Reserve has been making hawkish statements, the dollar is strengthening, and everyone has to tighten their belts. Among long-term bitcoin holders, many are large wallets with institutional backgrounds, facing redemption pressures, risk control requirements, or simply the need for rebalancing on their books, so they have to sell some bitcoins to meet liquidity needs. This is essentially no different from you and me occasionally withdrawing money from a fund for emergencies.
The impact of this wave of selling on the market is, to be honest, quite subtle. Logically speaking, with hundreds of thousands of bitcoins being dumped, prices should plummet. But if you look at the candlestick charts, although they are indeed falling, the speed isn’t that fast. Why? Because there are buyers. These old coins are mainly flowing to short-term holders and newcomers. On-chain data tells us that the coins held by long-term holders are decreasing while those held by short-term holders are increasing. The chips are shifting from experienced hands to inexperienced ones, from strong hands to weak hands. Historically, this kind of turnover often occurs in the later stages of a bull market or during a correction, reflecting some sort of market enthusiasm.
But how long can the buyers hold on? That’s the question. The cost for new retail investors and institutions is generally between $90,000 and $100,000, and their confidence hasn’t been tempered by a bear market, making them prone to panic at the slightest disturbance. Once the price drops below their cost line, it could trigger a chain reaction, turning "profit-taking sales" into "panic selling." At that time, long-term holders might look at the price drop and consider buying back in. This script has played out more than once in past cycles.
So you see, the cryptocurrency market is just a cycle like this. Experienced investors sell their coins at high prices to newcomers, who feel insecure holding the chips, and when prices adjust, they tremble and return the chips to the experienced investors. The selling by long-term holders sounds frightening, but from another perspective, their selling indicates that the market has support, and there are new players willing to enter. If there were no buyers, they wouldn’t be able to sell. This is like the second-hand housing market; when old owners are willing to list, it shows there are still buyers looking, which keeps the market healthy.
The logic behind MicroStrategy not selling is also very simple: they are looking at the value ten years down the line and do not care about the fluctuations over thirty days. Those long-term holders who have sold may not necessarily be pessimistic; it’s just that everyone has different risk tolerances and profit appetites.
The support and attention of everyone is our greatest motivation to continuously produce better works! Thank you all~
