Retail traders bought 6,870 BTC in one day above $91,400, even as LTHs dumped into strength and prices quickly reversed.
Bitcoin traders on Binance snapped up 6,870 BTC in a single day after the price pushed above $91,400 this week, even as long-term holders (LTHs) used the strength to cash out.
The buying frenzy comes against a backdrop of sharp liquidations and fading volume, which raised doubts about how long the retail momentum can last.
Retail Piles in as Long-Term Holders Sell into Strength
Data from on-chain analyst Amr Taha, published just hours before the price drop, painted a clear picture of a market at a potential turning point. On November 23, the realized capitalization for short-term holders (STH), which is essentially the total cost basis for BTC held less than 155 days, jumped past $51 billion.
It marks the highest level since December 2024 and signals a large influx of new, impatient capital entering the market. According to Taha, such spikes have historically coincided with market tops.
Meanwhile, the realized cap for LTHs moved in the opposite direction, dropping by approximately $47 billion, which the analyst said showed that experienced investors, who bought at lower prices, were distributing their BTC to the new retail buyers.
This exact pattern was observed before significant corrections in December 2024 and March 2024. As Taha noted, “Whenever STH buy aggressively while LTH sell to them, price tends to cool off shortly after.” The subsequent $5,000 drop in Bitcoin’s price within hours validated this historical precedent.
The retail buying frenzy was mainly concentrated on Binance. When the flagship cryptocurrency broke above $91,400, daily retail buying volume on the exchange spiked to a record 6,870 BTC, worth about $628 million at the time.
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Market Tremors Amid a Search for Direction
A look at the market shows that price action has been rather violent. Within the last day, commentators such as Wise Crypto and The Kobeissi Letter flagged that more than $600 million in crypto longs were wiped out, including a single $14.48 million ETH/USDC position on Binance, with one-hour windows alone seeing around $200 million liquidated.
Ash Crypto described a $5,000 drop in BTC’s price in three hours, saying over $200 billion was erased from total crypto market value without any obvious macro or regulatory trigger and calling it a “pure manipulation dump to wipe out the leverage again.”
Bitcoin now finds itself consolidating between key levels. The asset is caught between major support near $84,570, where over 610,000 BTC last moved, and a significant resistance ceiling around $112,340.
Meanwhile, the rejection from the $91,800 zone has pushed BTC to trade around $86,300, down 5% in the last 24 hours and testing the lower bounds of its recent range.
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