Bitcoin’s high-conviction holders sell $2.4B as price falls below $70K for first time since April

The investors who are supposed to never sell just sold. A lot.

Long-term Bitcoin holders, defined as wallets that have held BTC for at least 155 days, offloaded roughly $2.4 billion worth of Bitcoin in just two days leading up to June 3. That wave of selling represented about 26% of all Bitcoin transacted over the preceding 30 days, according to analysis from Compass Point’s Ed Engel.

The timing is hard to ignore. Bitcoin slipped below $70,000 for the first time since April 8, and the people who typically ride out drawdowns decided they’d had enough.

The numbers behind the capitulation

These wallets went dormant from February through April 2026, sitting on their positions while the market churned around them. That months-long silence made the sudden $2.4 billion liquidation all the more jarring.

And it wasn’t just anonymous wallets hitting the sell button. MicroStrategy sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31 at an average price of $77,135. It was the company’s first Bitcoin sale in more than three and a half years.

Engel noted that these sales carry meaningful implications for Bitcoin’s supply and demand balance, suggesting they may point toward a late-stage bear market where even the most dedicated investors begin shedding assets.

ETF outflows add pressure

The selling from long-term holders didn’t happen in a vacuum. It coincided with significant outflows from Bitcoin ETFs, with BlackRock’s IBIT alone shedding over $2.4 billion across a 10-day stretch.

What this means for investors

When long-term holders capitulate, it historically signals that a bear market is entering its final, most painful phase. The fact that wallets dormant for months suddenly moved $2.4 billion in 48 hours suggests a collective loss of confidence that even time-tested conviction couldn’t withstand.

Some analysts frame the current activity as demand-driven rather than wholesale capitulation. Exchange reserves are reportedly near multi-year lows, which suggests that while these holders are selling, buyers on the other side are pulling coins off exchanges and into cold storage.

For traders trying to navigate this, the interplay between ETF flows, on-chain holder behavior, and exchange reserve data will be the three metrics to watch.

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