The Bitcoin price started the week on a strong footing, jumping back above $90,000 following the announcement of a strategic crypto reserve by US President Donald Trump.

The Bitcoin price started the week on a strong footing, heating up again to trade above the $90,000 level following the announcement of a strategic crypto reserve by US President Donald Trump. However, the flagship cryptocurrency quickly lost this momentum, dropping back below the $90,000 threshold before midweek.
The recent market uncertainty is also evident in the Bitcoin action, as the price has moved mostly sideways (after the initial pump) within the $82,000 – $92,000 range. But what is causing this constant price retracement and consolidation?
Short-Term Sell-Offs Meet Long-Term Confidence: Analyst
In a Quicktake post on the CryptoQuant platform, an analyst with the pseudonym ShayanBTC discussed the divergence in investor behavior while using on-chain data to assess current market sentiment. The relevant on-chain indicator here is the Spent Output Age Bands (SOAB) metric, which categorizes spent coins based on their age as a percentage of the total coins moved.
Specifically, the analyst looked at the bags of investors in the 1-week to 6-month cohorts (short-term holders) using the Spent Output Age Bands. Data from CryptoQuant shows that the selling activity of short-term investors contributed to the recent Bitcoin downturn.
These investors, known for their swift reactions to market trends, have been actively depositing BTC onto exchanges—a move that can exert pressure on the cryptocurrency’s price. Furthermore, considering the sensitivity of short-term holders to market sentiment and technical resistance levels, their selling behavior aligns with Bitcoin’s struggle to sustain any bullish momentum.
On the other hand, long-term investors (those holding BTC for more than 6 months) have yet to display any signs of capitulation. While some level of profit-taking can be observed among this group of Bitcoin holders, it appears to be rather gradual and consistent with the behavior seen in healthy bull markets—not a mass liquidation.
The activity of long-term Bitcoin investors suggests that they anticipate future price appreciation before offloading larger portions of their holdings, which in turn would reduce the BTC supply in the open market. ShayanBTC added that “if sufficient demand enters the market, this supply shrinkage could propel further price appreciation.”
Interestingly, the latest on-chain data shows that long-term Bitcoin investors are not the only market participants refraining from selling off their assets. Crypto pundit Ali Martinez revealed in a post on X that the BTC miners have recorded no selling activity since February 28.