Key Points
- Bitcoin miners sold BTC worth $2.25 billion in a single day, marking the highest daily sell-off since May 2024.
- Despite increased sell-off, miners remain profitable, with daily revenue rising significantly over the past two weeks.
On November 13, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) reached a new all-time high of $93.4K. This prompted miners to sell 25K BTC coins, totaling over $2.25 billion, according to data from CryptoQuant. This marked the largest daily sell-off from miners since May 2024. The Miner Total Outflows metric, which tracks BTC transfers from miner wallets to exchanges, indicated a significant spike.
Market Trends and Miner Profitability
Typically, a surge in miner sell-off aligns with local price tops or stalls, as observed in early 2024. However, it remains uncertain if this historical trend will repeat given the current market euphoria and extreme greed.
Miners have been fiercely competing to produce blocks on the Bitcoin network, with mining difficulty reaching a new high above 100 trillion units this week. Despite the intense competition, miners continue to profit. Daily revenue has risen from $29 million to over $40 million in the past two weeks.
The surge in miner profit has been linked to increased market interest in BTC following Donald Trump’s victory, which is perceived as pro-BTC and crypto by market experts.
As of November 12, the average cost of mining a single BTC was estimated at $82.4K per MacroMicro data. With BTC valued at $90K, mining a single BTC had a positive margin of about $8K, reinforcing the profitability of current miners.
Impact on BTC Market
Increased miner sell-off could potentially impact the ongoing BTC rally and affect the $100K target expectations. The Puell Multiple, which measures miner profitability and, indirectly, BTC valuation, suggests there is still room for BTC to rally despite being valued above $90K.
The Puell Multiple spiked, indicating improved miner profitability. However, the metric’s reading was at 1, suggesting there was ample room before reaching the upper band.
Interestingly, the Puell Multiple mirrored the 2020-2021 pattern. In November 2020, the metric reading was at 1 before surging to the upper band (cycle top of $69K) in early 2021. If this pattern repeats, BTC could reach a cycle top by Q1 2025 based on insights from the Puell Multiple.
In conclusion, BTC was not overheated or overvalued despite the current rally to $90K. However, a similar and intense spike in BTC miner sell-offs in early 2025 alongside an overheated Puell Multiple could be a cause for concern and worth monitoring.
