Bitcoin has continued to see declining performance in recent days as on-chain metrics provide valuable insights into market behavior.
Among these metrics, the SOPR for long-term bondholders has particularly emerged as a critical tool for assessing investor sentiment and market resilience.
Long-term Bitcoin holders, defined as investors who hold Bitcoin for more than 155 days, are often seen as a stabilizing force in the market. Their selling patterns can greatly influence price trends, making SOPR an indicator worth watching.
Long-term shareholder trends and market sentiment
recently analysis From CryptoQuant analyst known as Cryptoavails highlights that the SOPR measure for long-term Bitcoin holders continues to show noticeable patterns with Bitcoin prices trending higher.
Historically, SOPR values above 1 indicate that long-term holders are selling at a profit, while values below 1 indicate they are disposing of their holdings at a loss.
This behavior reflects broader market confidence or capitulation during periods of falling prices. Currently, the SOPR measure remains consistently above 1, indicating that long-term holders are selling profitably without adding significant downward pressure on the Bitcoin price.
Analysis from Cryptoavails tracks key milestones in the Bitcoin market over the past two years, highlighting significant shifts in SOPR values. For example, in early 2022, the SOPR measure showed high volatility with frequent spikes, indicating intense profit-taking activity by long-term holders.
Amid these sales, the price of Bitcoin saw a downward trend, reflecting the ongoing selling pressure during that period. This trend gradually turned in late 2022 and early 2023 when the SOPR measure mostly remained below 1, suggesting that long-term bondholders were selling at a loss as the market sought stability.
By mid-2023, the SOPR index has begun to trend upward, indicating renewed confidence among long-term investors. The measure has consistently moved near or above the critical level of 1, indicating that long-term bondholders were again selling at a profit as market confidence began to recover.
This upward trend has remained in place until 2024, supported by rising Bitcoin price levels. Importantly, there was no significant selling by long-term holders, which strengthened the stability of the broader market, according to the cryptocurrency analyst.
SOPR as a future indicator of market growth
Overall, Cryptoavails reported that Bitcoin’s current SOPR status indicates a healthy market dynamic, with long-term holders of the coin contributing to a stable price structure. Despite cyclical corrections, the continued presence of SOPR above 1 indicates that selling pressure is still under control.
The analyst also noted that this behavior reflects market maturity, as long-term investors are not rushing to unload their holdings despite the rising price of Bitcoin.
Regardless, Bitcoin has continued to steadily decline in price since its sharp drop below $100,000 last week. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $93,991, down 1.6% over the past 24 hours.
Featured image created with DALL-E, chart from TradingView