Analyst: The current Bitcoin market sell-off is driven by profit-taking from absolute HODLers, and any further price increase will face sell pressure from loss-taking holders

BlockBeats News, January 17th, Crypto Quant analyst Axel posted that according to the "Bitcoin Short-Term Holder 24-hour Profit/Loss Transfer to CEX Total Amount" data, in the past 24 hours, approximately 35,400 BTC in a profitable state flowed into CEX, marking the highest data in nearly two months. The outflow of loss-chips was extremely low, at only about 4,600 BTC. The profit/loss outflow ratio is about 7.5:1. Profit-taking behavior clearly dominates, with very little panic selling.

Axel explained that the appearance of high-profit taking with an extremely low loss rate is a logical market performance. Investors who bought in the $85,000–$92,000 range are taking the opportunity of the price nearing their cost basis to lock in profits. This flow structure indicates that profit-taking behavior is driving market selling pressure, which is a completely different pressure type from panic selling of loss positions. Once the profit/loss ratio undergoes a reversal (i.e., loss-driven selling begins to dominate), the bearish scenario will intensify, although this is not a necessary condition.

All charts paint a coherent picture, with the loss rate narrowed to the lowest level, precisely in this range where profit-taking behavior has become active. The price is testing the cost benchmark area while facing high selling pressure from profitable positions.