Bitcoin Miners Intensify Selling Pressure as BTC Price Nears $90K, Raising Doubts About Crossing $100K

Bitcoin [BTC] miners' selling pressure has intensified as the price of BTC crossed $90K. Between the 10th to the 17th of November, miners sold over 110K BTC

Bitcoin [BTC] miners have been ramping up their selling activity as BTC crossed the $90K price mark. In a week, from 10 to 17 November, over 110K BTC, amounting to nearly $10 billion, were sold by the miners.

The highest daily sell-off occurred on 12 November as 25,367 BTC (worth $2.2B) were offloaded in the market. The heavy selling activity from the miners was observed throughout the period.

As observed, miner sell-off has been rising since October, in line with the broader market recovery from the sell-off in the third quarter of 2021.

However, this week’s intensified sell-pressure raised doubts about whether it could hinder BTC from crossing the psychological target of $100K.

In the past, high miner sell-offs and revenue have marked local and cycle tops. If the current trend and reading leaned on the latter, that could also trigger other holders to sell.

So, what’s the current cycle status as BTC flirts with $90K and eyes $100K?

Decoding BTC’s cycle top

From a miner’s perspective, a spike in miner fees (yellow) above 30% of total revenue has typically been correlated with past BTC cycle tops.

A high reading means elevated euphoria in BTC markets, which drives transaction fees to record high against rewards. That’s an overheated market signal.

In November, the miner fees hovered around 10% of total revenue, indicating that the market was not yet overheated.

Another indicator, the Pi Cycle Top, showed little room for a rally for BTC before the market became overheated.

In past trends, BTC’s move above the moving average (350DMA x2, green line) marked the cycle top and a signal for holders to offload.

The green line reading showed $120K, so the BTC surge past the level could be deemed a sell signal.

Read Bitcoin [BTC] Price Prediction 2024-2025

Interestingly, the $100K-$120K targets were largely expected by large players across the options market, as noted by QCP Capital, one of the world’s largest crypto options trading desks. The firm recently noted,

“In view of Bitcoin’s impressive rally since the US election, our view is that $100,000 – $120,000 may not be too far off.”

If so, a strong move above $120K could trigger the Pi Cycle Top and, by extension, increase profit booking across all cohorts of BTC holders. That would imply a 30% move from the $90K level at press time.