According to CryptoPotato, Bitcoin (BTC) reached $71,375 on March 26, approaching its all-time high of $73,738 earlier this month, but failed to break through to a new peak. On-chain analytics provider Glassnode attributed this to an increase in profit-taking events. The market has reached resistance with more than $2.6 billion in realized profit taken, the firm added.
Glassnode observed that Bitcoin's 16% correction on March 26 was almost identical to the pre-halving pullback in the previous cycle. The majority of the 2 million BTC that switched from being 'in-profit' to being 'in-loss' during the retrace now have a cost basis above $61.2K and have recently changed hands. As the market reached its peak level, more than $2.6 billion in realized profit was locked in via on-chain spending. Around 40% of this profit-taking was attributed to long-term holders, including investors divesting from the Grayscale GBTC Trust. Since its conversion to a spot ETF in mid-January, GBTC has shed 277,393 BTC, with another $212 million in outflows measured on March 26. However, the newly launched nine ETFs have absorbed that outflow and more. The remaining $1.56 billion in realized profit was locked in by short-term holders.
Glassnode concluded that profit-taking was 'not atypical market behavior' and aligns very closely with market patterns observed during all prior cycle all-time high breakouts. At the time of writing, BTC was trading flat on the day at around $70,000. Total market capitalization was $2.79 trillion, just 9.4% away from its peak of $3.08 trillion in November 2021. Most altcoins were also flat during the Wednesday morning Asian trading session, with BNB, XRP, AVAX, and TON retreating slightly as DOGE, SHIB, and ICP saw marginal gains.
