Bitcoin investors have been aggressively taking profits since the cryptocurrency recorded a new all-time high (ATH) above $111,000. Although the asset has retracted over the past week and has been consolidating around $105,000, traders are still offloading their bags to realize gains.

This is evident in Glassnode’s Entity-Adjusted Spent Output Profit Ratio, which shows that investors are seeing a high level of profitability recorded on less than 8% of trading days.

Intense Surge in Realized Profits

The market intelligence and research firm stated that Bitcoin investors are undergoing a significant shift towards profit-taking activity. Since BTC had its ATH breakout, the average coin has captured at least 16% profit during the sale, reflecting a notable uptick in profits locked in.

On May 3, Glassnode also noted a significant spike in its Entity-Adjusted Realized Profit. The metric rallied above the $500 million/hour range three times within a 24-hour period, signaling intense profit-taking activity.

Investors locking in gains coincided with bitcoin’s brief recovery to $106,780. The asset broke out of the $105,000 region yesterday; however, at the time of writing, it had fallen back, failing to hold above $105,500.

Long-Term Holders Are Not Left Out

Last week, Glassnode revealed that long-term BTC holders were not left out of the profit-taking spree. Investors holding BTC for one to five years took profits to the extent that their aggregate volume reached $4.02 billion, the highest since February.

At the time, it was unclear whether the movement of coins from their wallets was part of a strategic reallocation or profit-taking. However, it is now clear that older Bitcoin investors have been taking profits, and this spending spike is being led by the cohort aged three to five years.

While profit-taking is in full swing, on-chain data suggests that long-term investors, specifically those in the three- to five-year cohort, are becoming exhausted from selling. This group of BTC holders has locked in significant profits each time BTC rallied in March, October, November 2024, and February 2025.

Currently, their supply share hovers around 12%, meaning they control a significant share of the wealth in the Bitcoin market. This also means that they are likely to sell and collect profits if BTC begins to surge again.