{"id":12754,"date":"2026-09-03T09:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T09:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12754"},"modified":"2026-09-03T09:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T09:49:16","slug":"bitcoin-keeps-failing-at-80k-for-one-big-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12754","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin keeps failing at $80K for one big reason"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Bitcoin is testing a roughly $68 billion breakeven wall that has repeatedly stalled its push back above $80,000.<\/p>\n

About 880,000 BTC carry a cost basis between roughly $77,500 and $80,300, leaving a large group of holders close to where they originally bought, Bitfinex Alpha data shows.<\/p>\n

Data from CryptoSlate<\/em> shows Bitcoin trading near $77,890 as of press time after spending much of the past week trapped below $80,000.<\/p>\n

The concentration means even modest price moves can shift tens of billions of dollars in Bitcoin between profit and loss, potentially releasing supply from investors who endured months underwater.<\/p>\n

So far, that selling has been absorbed, setting up a test of whether fresh demand can clear the zone or whether the recovery stalls near current levels.<\/p>\n

Older buyers are using the rally to get out near cost<\/h2>\n

The behavior of long-term holders suggests some investors are already taking advantage of the recovery to exit positions without realizing significant losses.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin’s long-term holder Spent Output Profit Ratio, or SOPR, has moved around 1 for nine consecutive sessions, with readings between 0.88 and 1.19 and a latest level near 0.98, Bitfinex said. A reading around 1 indicates coins are being moved at roughly the same price at which they were acquired.<\/p>\n

Bitfinex analysts tied that activity primarily to investors who accumulated Bitcoin around February and March, when prices were close to current levels. Those holders subsequently sat through the downturn and now have an opportunity to recover their original investment as Bitcoin revisits their entry prices.<\/p>\n

That creates a recurring supply problem. Bitcoin closed at $80,256 on Aug. 27, when 72.1% of supply was in profit. By the time it closed at $77,468 several days later, that share had fallen to 67.7%. The change implies roughly 880,000 BTC sit inside the narrow $2,800 cost-basis window now surrounding the market.<\/p>\n

At about $77,000 per Bitcoin, that represents nearly $68 billion of supply whose profitability changes as prices move through the region.<\/p>\n

The pattern has yet to resemble capitulation. Bitfinex said sustained SOPR readings below 0.9 alongside falling prices would indicate holders had begun accepting deeper losses to exit. Instead, sellers have largely appeared around breakeven while buyers have prevented a more decisive breakdown.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin’s True Market Mean, an on-chain measure Bitfinex uses to estimate the average acquisition price of active investors, stands near $76,350. That places the market only slightly above another level where a broader portion of holders approaches cost.<\/p>\n

Strategy steps in as the ETF bid cools<\/h2>\n

The demand absorbing those sellers is also changing, with Strategy returning to the market just as buying through US spot Bitcoin ETFs has become less consistent.<\/p>\n

Strategy bought 4,603 Bitcoin for $369.7 million between Aug. 24 and Aug. 30, ending a 10-week pause in purchases. The acquisition lifted the company’s holdings to 845,050 BTC and was made at an average price of $80,318, placing Strategy’s buying directly inside the zone where Bitcoin has repeatedly struggled to hold gains.<\/p>\n

That timing provides an unusually direct test of corporate demand. Strategy paid above every Bitcoin daily close since May 14, even as other investors were using prices near $80,000 to sell.<\/p>\n

The purchase also arrived as ETF demand cooled following one of its strongest stretches of the summer.<\/p>\n