Bitcoin has been in freefall recently, but this popular indicator is yet to reach the same highs as the last two cycles. Is the real top still ahead for the asset? Bitcoin aSOPR Has Been Consolidating For The Last Two Years As pointed out by an analyst in a CryptoQuant Quicktake post, the Bitcoin aSOPR has been consolidating between converging trendlines for nearly two years. The Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR) is an indicator that tells us whether the BTC investors are selling their coins at a profit or loss. Related Reading: USDC Floods Exchanges: Are Traders Buying The Bitcoin Crash? When the value of this metric is greater than 1, it means the average holder is transferring their coins at some net profit on the blockchain. On the other hand, the indicator being below this threshold implies the dominance of loss taking on the network. Naturally, the SOPR being exactly equal to 1 suggests profit realization is canceling out loss realization. In other words, the investors as a whole are just breaking even on their sales. In the context of the current discussion, the version of the SOPR that’s of interest is the Adjusted SOPR (aSOPR). This indicator eliminates from the data sales of all coins that moved within an hour of their last movement. Such moves are usually relay transactions and carry no consequences for the market. Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Bitcoin aSOPR over the last few years: As the quant has highlighted in the graph, the 2017 and first-half 2021 bull runs both interestingly topped out as the aSOPR rose to the red line. This level corresponds to a notable degree of profit realization among the investors. Similarly, the bear markets of the last two cycles found their bottoms at about the same time as the aSOPR hitting a low at the green line, some distance below the 1 mark. At this level, loss-taking is dominant, so weak hands capitulating and resolute entities accumulating their coins could be behind the bottom formation pattern. In the current cycle so far, the aSOPR hasn’t touched the red line. Instead, the indicator has been stuck in consolidation inside two converging trendlines in a mild profit-taking region for almost the last two years. Considering the pattern of the last two cycles, it’s possible that the latest one hasn’t hit its top yet. Another possibility, however, could very well be that the aSOPR simply isn’t going to touch the red level in this cycle at all. Related Reading: Bitcoin Mayer Multiple Retraces To Lower Bound—What Comes Next? The Bitcoin aSOPR is now slowly inching toward the end of its converging channel, so a breakout one way or the other could happen soon. It only remains to be seen which direction the indicator will exit. BTC Price At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $86,300, down 9% over the last week. Featured image from Dall-E, CryptoQuant.com, chart from TradingView.com
Here’s what the historical pattern of an on-chain indicator suggests regarding whether the time to accumulate Bitcoin is over or not. Bitcoin 150-Day MA aSOPR Currently Has A Value Of 1.01 As pointed out by an analyst in a CryptoQuant Quicktake post, the 150-day moving average (MA) of the Bitcoin aSOPR has a value of just 1.01 right now. The “Adjusted Spent Output Profit Ratio” (aSOPR) here refers to an indicator that basically tells us about whether the BTC investors are selling their coins at a profit or loss. This metric works by going through the on-chain history of all tokens being sold/transferred to see what price they were transacted at prior to this. When this price for any coin is less than the current price at which they are now being sold, then that particular token’s sale could be assumed to be leading to profit realization. Related Reading: Analytics Firm Reveals Why Dogecoin & Apecoin Hit Tops Similarly, coins of the opposite type could be considered to be adding to the loss realization. The aSOPR combines such profits and losses being realized across the network, and calculates their ratio. The “adjusted” in this metric’s name comes from the fact that it filters out transactions of coins that were moved inside an hour of their last transaction. Transfers like these are generally of no consequence to the wider market, so it makes sense to take them out of the data. Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the 150-day MA of the Bitcoin aSOPR over the last few years: As displayed in the above graph, the 150-day MA Bitcoin aSOPR has consistently remained above the 1 mark this year, which implies the investors as a whole have been realizing more profits than losses. Earlier in the year, the indicator had grown to a high of 1.04 as the investors had taken the profits of the rally. As the consolidation of the cryptocurrency has dragged on, though, the metric has declined, with its value now sitting at 1.01. In the chart, the quant has highlighted two zones that have historically been significant for the aSOPR. The first is the region under 0.98, where bottoms have historically occurred. At levels this low, the investors are participating in notable loss realization. Resolute hands pick up the coins from these capitulators, thus helping the price reach a point of turnaround. Related Reading: Bitcoin Profitability Index Hits 202%: Is This Enough For A Top? The other zone is the one above 1.08, where tops have formed in the past as a result of the aggressive profit-taking from the whales. So far, the current cycle hasn’t seen the Bitcoin aSOPR visit this territory. “Based on previous trends, accumulating Bitcoin until aSOPR reaches 1.04 could be a solid strategy for long-term gains,” says the analyst. “Timing the market by observing whale behavior may prove fruitful.” BTC Price Bitcoin had plunged to the $65,000 level yesterday, but the coin has already made recovery as its price is now floating around $67,100. Featured image from Dall-E, CryptoQuant.com, chart from TradingView.com
On-chain data indicates that Bitcoin had retested a historically relevant line right before the latest recovery had come. Bitcoin Adjusted SOPR Retested The 1.0 Level Prior To Recovery When Bitcoin was declining, the cryptocurrency had dropped to a low of $60,600, which appears to have been the bottom, at least so far, given that the […]