Why Is Bitcoin Stuck Below $80,000?

Every time Bitcoin pushes past a key price ceiling, sellers materialize and swat it back down within days. Understanding who those sellers are and what it would take to finally silence them changes how you read the current stall.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) currently hovers near $77,400, still under $80,000 after three tries since late August. CryptoQuant reported on September 11 that Bitcoin is trading at the bottom edge of a band where long-term holders unloaded heavily.

Bitcoin climbed 21.77% off its August 13 low of $63,425.35, and sellers took back every push above $80,000 within days. “Bitcoin must absorb the overhead supply to advance,” CryptoQuant wrote. So what would it take to clear the wall?

Long-Term Holders Sold 539,000 Bitcoin Between $77,100 and $80,200

A long-term holder is a wallet that has held a coin long enough for on-chain analysts to classify it as patient capital, and the group tends to sell in size only when price gives them a level worth taking. CryptoQuant measured up to 539,000 Bitcoin leaving those wallets inside a single 30-day window this year, all of it between $77,100 and $80,200.

Coins sold into a narrow band leave two groups on either side of it. The holders who sold there still own more, and a return to the level gives them a reason to sell again.