As bitcoin (BTC) continues to trade a few thousand dollars below $100,000, miners are struggling to run their operations, and as a result, most of them are capitulating.

A report by CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost revealed that the Hash Ribbons metric, an indicator that tells the health of the Bitcoin network by tracking hash rate fluctuations, has just flashed again. This metric often shows face when miners are capitulating.

Bitcoin Miners Are Capitulating

Miner capitulation refers to a period when miners are unable to cover the costs of their operations and have to sell their BTC reserves or exit the market entirely. This often happens when the price of BTC declines, and less efficient miners are mostly affected because they do not earn enough bitcoins to cover their operational costs.

Bitcoin miners usually keep some or all of the BTC they mine to be sold during bull markets for maximized returns, but they are forced to offload their holdings during capitulation.

BTC was worth $96,700 at press time, down slightly in the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency has been changing hands under $100,000 over the last seven days, consolidating between the $91,000 and $102,000 price bands. This range-bound movement has made producing Bitcoin blocks less profitable for miners, hence the capitulation.

Darkfost mentioned that the Hash Ribbons indicator has historically been a reliable signal, although the metric missed once during the COVID-19 market crash in 2020. It is also worth noting that the Hash Ribbons metric highlights optimal entry zones for investors looking to position themselves for mid-term and long-term price appreciation.

Interestingly, a Bitcoin rally has followed each Hash Ribbon flash in the past. With Bitcoin miner capitulation often serving as a precursor to price bottoms in the past, it is safe to say that BTC may experience significant upside action soon.

Bitcoin Hash Rate Surges

The latest update in Bitcoin miner behavior comes as the network’s hash rate and mining difficulty hit all-time highs (ATH). CryptoPotato reported on February 10 that the Bitcoin hash rate hit an ATH of 845 million on February 8, while the mining difficulty spiked by 5.61% to 114.17 trillion during its last adjustment.

Mining blocks on the Bitcoin network has become more difficult than a year ago; however, miners’ daily revenue is still low compared to last year.