Bitcoin Miners See High Prices as ‘Opportunity,’ Become Sellers

Bitcoin (BTC) miners have once again turned into net sellers of bitcoin, with miner inventories dropping to levels not seen since early September. However, miners aren’t necessarily turning bearish “en masse,” although some are looking to offload “excess inventory,” according to an analyst.

According to the bitcoin data and research platform ByteTree, about 30% more BTC was sold than mined on Thursday, as more Bitcoin miners sent part of their holdings to the market.

The fresh round of selling from miners was also visible in data that tracks miner inventories. As of Friday at 13:03 UTC, miners’ inventories fell to their lowest level since September 11 this year, with BTC 1,521,397 currently held by miners.

The current number represents a drop from a peak of BTC 1,523,766 reached on November 8, when the bitcoin price stood at around USD 45,000. 

Worth noting, however, is that about BTC 1.5m were mined during the early days of bitcoin, and have never entered the market.

Bitcoin miners’ inventory, last 12 weeks:

Source: Terminal.bytetree.com

Commenting on the findings, Charlie Morris, Founder of ByteTree and Chief Investment Officer of ByteTree Asset Management, told Cryptonews.com that the selling now comes after a period of accumulation for miners.

“The miners have been accumulating BTC since early September which has served them well,” Morris said. He added that “some have decided to take profits,” while noting that this is “not huge, but tells us sentiment is shifting.”

“Miners sell BTC every day as they have costs to pay and want to bank profits. Prices are high and so they see an opportunity,” Morris said.

And given that the bitcoin price earlier this week just barely managed to reach a new all-time high, Morris said that the selling could also be related to some miners who had bet on a higher price spike now finding themselves on the wrong side of that bet.

“Perhaps they assumed the recent [all-time high] would see a price spike. It hasn’t happened and so they are selling more than they recently have,” the ByteTree founder said. “They aren’t turning bearish en masse, just at the margin. Recall they have been building excess inventory,” Morris noted, adding that the selling could potentially tell us something about what to expect next:

“Historically they have been good market timers.”

At 13:03 UTC, BTC traded at USD 64,082, down 1.8% for the past 24 hours and up 4% for the week.

Source