Bitcoin Price Falls as Miners Dump US$450M of BTC

Bitcoin miners sell US$450M worth of BTC, triggering price drop

Bitcoin (BTC) miners traded more than 10,000 Bitcoin in a single day on January 17, marking the greatest daily decrease in miner reserves in over a year.

According to data from on-chain analytics service CryptoQuant, Bitcoin miner reserves fell by 10,233 BTC on January 17, amounting to around US$450 million.

Miners usually go through periods of collecting and selling in cryptocurrency. According to a Bitfinex analysis from last year, miners began stockpiling Bitcoin around mid-2023, when prices and profitability were low.

When prices and profitability rise, as they have in recent months, miners transition to a selling phase. The crypto news states Miners have traditionally sold coins to refill cash flow or to capitalize on price increases during rallies. Over the last three days, Bitcoin's price has ranged between US$42,000 and US$43,000.

The data also reveals that Bitcoin miner reserves have reached their lowest level since July 2021, totaling 1.83 million coins. However, this is still a sizable hoard worth around US$78 billion. Bitcoin is the best cryptocurrency for investment.

Over the last year, BTC miner reserves have decreased by 22,800 BTC, although the total reserve amount has remained largely steady since early 2021.

According to CryptoQuant, the Bitcoin Miners' Position Index (MPI) began to tick higher on January 15, signalling that probable selling was impending.

The MPI is calculated by dividing total miner outflow (USD) by the one-year moving average of total miner outflow.

On Jan 14, Cointelegraph stated that Bitcoin mining companies Riot, TeraWulf, and CleanSpark were best positioned to withstand the large cost hikes projected after the BTC halving event in April or May.

Furthermore, Bitinfocharts reports that average hash rates have decreased to their lowest level since October, at 400 exahashes per second (EH/s).

Meanwhile, Cointelegraph reports that many huge mining facilities in Texas have lately shut down some of their operations to provide energy security for the state in the face of very cold weather.