Dormant Bitcoin supply quiet as $69,000 tests sellers

Galaxy Research charts shared by analyst Alex Thorn show on-chain movement of Bitcoin held one year or longer dropped sharply in 2026. The chart records more than 4 million BTC moving after one year of dormancy in 2024 and below 2 million in 2026.

The Galaxy chart excludes exchange and custodial churn. Internal transfers and large wallet reshuffles can change on-chain age statistics without changing beneficial ownership. An internal wallet migration of about $69.5 billion at a major exchange altered age metrics while leaving ownership structure unchanged.

Glassnode uses a different long-term-holder threshold, roughly 155 days. Its data indicate profit-taking by long-term holders has nearly stopped, the long-term-holder share of realized losses has flattened, and entity-adjusted realized losses edged down from a cycle peak about two weeks earlier.

A coin purchased in September 2025 would meet Glassnode’s 155-day threshold by mid-February 2026 but would not appear in Galaxy’s one-year-plus measure until September 2026. That timing creates overlap between the two datasets and complicates direct comparisons of long-term-holder activity.

Aggregate on-chain metrics cannot identify which wallets sold or whether transfers represented changes in beneficial ownership. Glassnode notes reduced selling is not the same as increased buying: fewer sellers only reduce market supply if there are buyers to take the opposite side.

Bitcoin is trading in the mid-$60,000s, close to the short-term-holder cost basis of roughly $69,000 identified by Glassnode. Glassnode describes that level as the cohort’s aggregate acquisition price and a dividing line between profit and loss for recent buyers.

Market flows show exchange-traded fund inflows into spot Bitcoin have arrived in short, scattered bursts rather than a sustained run. Derivatives markets display de-risking among leveraged traders. Market observers note sustained spot buying would be needed to support a larger price advance.

How price behaves near $69,000 will affect whether recent buyers move into profit or remain under water, according to the analytics firms’ frameworks. Observers will watch ETF flows, on-chain age metrics and derivatives positioning for further signals.