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Charts of the Week: Bitcoin’s Great Awakenings

Hero Bitcoin-3

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As bitcoin’s price rallied in 2024 and 2025, a significant amount of long-dormant BTC (held in the same address for a year or more) moved onchain – these two years rivaled only by the 2017 bull run. Although onchain coin movements do not necessarily equate to moving coins to an exchange to sell, nonetheless most bitcoiners tend to buy and “hodl” their coins, and the heuristic has proven its usefulness over time. As with any asset class, when BTC rises significantly, long-term holders find themselves deeply in profit. Thus, substantial movements of dormant coins are often a leading indicator of upward price momentum stalls or even tops. It appears, though, that this “great distribution” from 2024 and 2025 is mostly done, and 2026 is on pace to see less than half the volume of “awakened” coins as last year.

Bitcoin onchain awakenings (annual)

Looking at the same data by month, the clusters of old coins that came out of hibernation during the 2017, 2021, and 2024-2025 rallies really stand out.

Bitcoin onchain awakenings (monthly)

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