Bitcoin Short-Term Holders' Profit Cushion Narrows to 5.9%

Bitcoin (BTC) held for less than six months has an average cost of about $76,000, leaving a 5.9% unrealized-profit cushion after a roughly $1,000 weekly price decline.

The cushion stood at 8.7% a week earlier. Over the same period, the group's average cost rose about $1,100. The cushion measures how far BTC's price sits above the group's average cost in percentage terms; it does not measure the group's total dollar gains.

BTC held longer than six months had an average cost of about $48,600, which remained largely unchanged. The shorter-term group's average was about 1.56 times that figure, up from a ratio of 1.54. The rise in recent holders' average cost drove most of that change.

An Oct. 16 snapshot of short-term Bitcoin holdings put the group's average cost at about $74,900 and its unrealized-profit cushion near 10%. The latest figures show the gap between BTC's price and that average cost has narrowed further.

The $76,000 figure is a group average, so it does not mean every recent buyer has an unrealized gain. Buyers who paid more than the current market price may already have losses. If BTC falls below the group's average cost, the cohort as a whole would move into an unrealized loss.