Bitcoin that had sat untouched for years moved less in the second quarter than at any point since Q3 2022. Galaxy Digital's head of research, Alex Thorn, shared the data on X. It points to lo
Bitcoin that had sat untouched for years moved less in the second quarter than at any point since Q3 2022. Galaxy Digital's head of research, Alex Thorn, shared the data on X. It points to long-term holders pulling back from the heavy selling of the past two years.
Thorn tracked this through coin days destroyed, a metric that weights old coins more heavily when they move. That figure dropped alongside dormant coin movement, confirming the same pattern from a second angle.
Dormant coin movement measures Bitcoin (BTC) that stays in the same wallet for a long stretch before it gets spent again. When that coin finally moves, analysts read it as a signal.
Long-dormant coins usually belong to early buyers sitting on large gains. When they start moving in volume, it often means those holders are taking profit or repositioning. When movement drops, it suggests they are choosing to hold instead.
Thorn compared the recent slowdown to what happened before it. He said the earlier spikes were driven by "OGs taking profit," and that the scale matched Bitcoin's 2017 bull run.
Transfers of coins held for more than a year jumped sharply through 2024 and 2025. Coins held for two to five years or longer saw the largest jump, reaching levels not seen since 2017.
That wave lined up with Bitcoin's climb to its all-time high of $126,198 in October 2025. Long-term holders who bought years earlier, some at prices under $30,000, had enormous unrealized gains to lock in. Many did exactly that, and on-chain data through late 2025 showed sustained net selling from wallets that had been dormant for years.
Thorn's July 15 analysis on X already flagged the trend before this latest update. He wrote that most of the heavy selling had already played out, and that 2026's total movement of old coins would likely come in below half of 2025's level.
That is a simple explanation. A large share of the holders who wanted to sell already did. The supply of old, dormant coins available to move has shrunk, so there is less left to sell even if the appetite were still there.
Bitcoin's price path since October also matters. BTC has fallen from its $126,198 peak to around $64,300 to $64,700 today, a decline of nearly half. Long-term Holder SOPR, a measure of whether old coins are selling at a profit or a loss, has spent much of 2026 below the break-even line of 1.0. That kind of sustained reading below 1 has historically only shown up in bear markets, not in 2017, 2021, 2024, or 2025.
In plain terms, many long-term holders who did not sell near the top are now sitting on smaller profits, or in some cases losses relative to recent purchase prices. That gives them less reason to cash out at current levels compared to when Bitcoin traded above $100,000.
A drop in dormant coin movement generally reduces one source of sell pressure. Fewer old coins hitting exchanges means less new supply for the market to absorb, all else being equal.
This does not guarantee a price recovery. Bitcoin also faces pressure from macro conditions, including rising US bond yields that have increased the odds of further Fed rate action. Weaker holder selling helps the supply side, but demand from new buyers still needs to show up for prices to recover meaningfully.
The honest read is that this data describes a pause in old-holder distribution, not a return of aggressive buying. Whether that pause holds depends on where Bitcoin's price goes from here. A renewed rally toward $100,000 could tempt holders who missed the October peak to sell into strength again, reviving the exact pattern that just eased.
