Bitcoin's large holders are back in profit, and small wallets never really left

Bitcoin's large holders are back in the green. Small wallets, meanwhile, held up through the June low better than they did during the 2022 bear market.

Bitcoin's June 2026 low landed somewhere between $58,500 and $70,000, depending on the measure used. At that point, roughly 51.4% to 55% of the circulating supply was still in profit.

At the trough, around 10.2 million BTC were underwater before prices recovered.

The standout cohort was wallets holding between 100 and 1,000 BTC. These mid-to-large holders kept unrealized profits through the June drawdown. They then accumulated significantly in the months that followed.

Retail-sized wallets also avoided the deeper underwater positions that defined earlier downturns. Small holders did feel unrealized loss pressure. They simply did not capitulate in large numbers.

Bitcoin's price did not close below its realized price during the 2026 drawdown, a first in the tracked history of its bear markets.

Realized price works like a giant average receipt. It values each coin at the price it last moved on-chain, then averages the result across the whole supply. If market price falls below it, the typical holder is sitting on a loss.

VanEck's mid-2026 ChainCheck report noted a transition from early capitulation losses into an accumulation phase among larger players, with coins migrating from weak hands to strong hands.