On the other hand, analysts warn that Bitcoin’s near-term performance faces some resistance as long-term holders take profits. On-chain data shows heavy selling from early investors. While this profit-taking slowed momentum, Bitcoin held key support levels, which suggests that there is some underlying strength as institutional demand gradually absorbs supply from veteran holders.
Institutions Still Bullish on BTC
Around two-thirds of institutional investors are still optimistic about Bitcoin’s prospects heading into 2026. This is according to a new Coinbase Institutional report titled “Navigating Uncertainty.”
The survey polled 124 institutional investors, and found that 67% held a positive outlook for Bitcoin over the next three to six months. This means that institutional investors still have confidence in the crypto despite the recent market volatility. Coinbase’s head of research, David Duong, pointed out that “most respondents are bullish on Bitcoin,” even though opinions are very different on where the market currently stands in its cycle.
(Source: Coinbase)
The report revealed that 45% of institutional investors believe crypto markets are in the late stages of a bull run, while just 27% of non-institutional respondents share that view. Duong added that institutional players played a crucial role when it came to shaping the crypto market’s trajectory this year, particularly through treasury allocations that helped absorb sell-side pressure during downturns.
One of the more striking observations in the report was the scale of digital asset treasuries’ recent buying activity. BitMine, which is chaired by Tom Lee, reportedly bought more than 379,000 Ethereum — valued at nearly $1.5 billion — since the latest market correction pushed ETH below $4,000.
DAT crypto holdings (Source: Coinbase)
Similarly, Strategy CEO Michael Saylor once again hinted that his company may soon add to its $69 billion Bitcoin holdings, after posting a chart showing the firm’s cumulative purchases over 82 buying events. Despite recent equity market pullbacks, data indicates that corporate crypto reserves are still largely untouched, suggesting that there is strong long-term conviction among treasury holders.
Coinbase believes that the crypto bull market “has room to run,” though it has adopted a slightly more cautious stance after the market turbulence of Oct. 10. Duong pointed to resilient liquidity conditions, a supportive macroeconomic backdrop, and regulatory developments as some of the key drivers.
The report also mentioned potential Federal Reserve rate cuts and increased fiscal and monetary stimulus from China as additional tailwinds that could push investors back into risk assets. For now, Coinbase sees the setup as favorable for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Still Faces Pressure
Bitcoin’s price may face a challenging path ahead as long-term holders are still taking profits. This is according to several analysts who suggest that persistent selling pressure from early investors is keeping the market subdued.
Analyst James Check explained that the ongoing weakness in crypto markets has little to do with manipulation or structural issues and more to do with simple market behavior — long-term holders cashing out after years of gains. “The failure of crypto markets to recover was not due to manipulation, paper Bitcoin, or suppression, just good old-fashioned sellers,” Check said on Sunday.
He pointed out that on-chain data shows the average age of spent coins has been rising, which indicates that long-term holders have been moving their older coins. This created significant sell-side resistance, which is reflected in realized profit levels spiking to $1.7 billion per day, while realized losses also climbed to $430 million per day, the third-highest level in the current market cycle.
The revived supply from older coins also surged to reach $2.9 billion per day, its second-highest level this cycle. These trends prove that older investors are actively taking profits and redistributing their holdings, which slowed momentum despite the market’s attempts to recover.
Crypto analyst Will Clemente described the past year as a period of transition where Bitcoin supply moved from long-term holders to institutional investors. “The last year of relative weakness for BTC has mostly been a transfer of supply from OGs to TradFi,” he said, and added that this dynamic will likely fade in importance as new capital enters the market.
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz agreed by explaining that many long-time Bitcoin holders have finally started to realize profits after years of accumulation. “There are a lot of people in the Bitcoin world who rode this for so long and finally decided, ‘I wanna buy something,’” he said.
BTC’s price action over the past week (Source: CoinMarketCap)
Despite this wave of profit-taking, Bitcoin managed to hold a key technical level by closing the week around $108,700. Analyst Rekt Capital commented that maintaining support at this level is “absolutely key” for any move toward $120,000 and beyond.
