Bitcoin (BTC) has been consolidating above $100,000 since the start of May. The only time the price drop below $100,000 was on 22 June, which was a weekend when tensions escalated between Iran and the U.S.
However, due to typically low trading volume over weekends, price action is often less reliable during those periods since crypto is the only industry that trades continuously.
Despite ongoing discussions about public companies acquiring bitcoin globally, on top of the availability of exchange-traded funds in the United States, investors are still wondering why bitcoin has not yet broken to new all-time highs above $112,000.
On-chain data, specifically the revived supply breakdown by age, shows elevated levels of bitcoin being sold by investors who have held their coins for a minimum of 3 years and in some cases for over 10 years.
Analyst Checkmate provided this data and commented, “Look at all this price suppression selling by market manipulators who acquired their coins more than 3 years ago and are definitely not selling for profit in a bull market… Much paper.”
This implies that for every buyer there is a seller, and in a bull market, the higher the price climbs, the more likely the market will find sellers willing to offload their holdings.
Checkmate further added, “Always chopping sideways. Suppression == Boredom.” As bitcoin has been consolidating for some time, this is typically where the narrative of market suppression gains traction. However, the data indicates that persistent selling pressure continues rather than deliberate suppression.