On-chain data shows the recent bearish Bitcoin price action has put the network’s short-term holder whales into a significant unrealized loss.
The STH whales (or “new whales”) are the holders with 1,000+ BTC (equivalent to $110.8 million at the current exchange rate) who got into the market during the last five months.
Now, here is the chart shared by the analytics firm that shows the trend in the net unrealized profit/loss held by the STH whales over the past year:
As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin STH whales have seen their profit-loss balance lean heavily into the underwater territory following the recent bearish wave in the cryptocurrency’s price. This means that the members of this cohort are now carrying a heavy amount of net loss.
The Realized Cap is an indicator that basically measures the total amount of capital that Bitcoin investors have put into the cryptocurrency. The Realized Cap of the new whales, in particular, corresponds to the big-money capital that came into the network during the past 155 days.
From the above chart, it’s apparent that the new whales today control around 45% of the total whale Realized Cap, which is a new record. Considering that the cohort as a whole is underwater, this capital is naturally being held at a net loss now.
So far, new capital has been coming in to absorb this selloff from the HODLers, but with the STH whales now under pressure, demand for the cryptocurrency may be starting to weaken.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $111,000, down 1.7% over the last week.
