Bitcoin profit-taking makes $140K key BTC price point: Research

Key points

• Bitcoin realized profits for long-term holders remain comparatively lower than during 2024.
• Research calculates that to match those levels, BTC/USD needs to reach $140,000.
• Price action is attempting to break out of a multiweek downtrend as consolidation continues.

Bitcoin (BTC $107,765) must hit $140,000 before OG investors enjoy the kind of profits seen earlier in the bull market.

New research from onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant says that the $140,000 mark is a key price point for Bitcoin’s long-term holders (LTHs).

CryptoQuant: "Many are calling for" $140,000 BTC

Bitcoin has witnessed an uptick in profit-taking in recent weeks as the price hits all-time highs but struggles to maintain them.

In particular, LTH investors — entities hodling BTC and not selling for at least six months — have contributed the lion’s share of selling pressure.

Comparing current realized profits to earlier bull-market peaks shows that LTHs are not as deep “in the black” as before. 

To do this, CryptoQuant leveraged the Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) metric, which compares the value of coins in circulation to the price at which they last moved.

The average realized profit, “based on the MVRV ratio, currently stands at around 220%,” contributor Darkfost wrote in one of its “Quicktake” blog posts. 

Darkfost argued that while the figure “may seem high for BTC,” March and December 2024 saw “average realized profits among LTH were around 300% and 350%, respectively.”

The aggregate cost basis, known as realized price, for LTHs is about $33,800.

Concluding, Darkfost argued that the price at which LTH’s unrealized profits match 2024 levels is a form of market magnet.

“Although these profits may seem substantial, we’re still far from the levels observed during the tops of this cycle,” he concluded. 

To return to those profit levels, BTC would need to reach $140,000. A price level that many are calling for.

Bitcoin LTH realized profit data. Source: CryptoQuant

The Bitcoin bull market continues

As Cointelegraph reported, a “super majority” of Bitcoin investors are sitting on unrealized profits worth $2.5 trillion.

Meanwhile, market participants remain confident that the market can absorb selling pressure in what has become a new BTC price consolidation phase.

“The next technical step is the anticipated post-breakout retest,” trader Rekt Capital wrote in part of a recent X analysis examining weekly BTC/USD performance.

BTC/USD 1-week chart. Source: Rekt Capital/X

Rekt Capital explained that Bitcoin was in the process of breaking out of a multi-week downtrend that had been ongoing since mid-May.

This week, he predicted that the bull market may have just several months left before a blow-off top and trend change arrive.