Profit-Taking and Cooling Demand Pause Bitcoin Rally, CryptoQuant Says

A CryptoQuant report indicates profit-taking and cooling demand have put Bitcoin’s rally on pause.

Bitcoin’s recent surge may be fading, but the cryptocurrency remains in a bull market.

That assessment comes from a new report by data analytics firm CryptoQuant, which notes profit-taking signs are emerging.

Bitcoin recently traded at $82,939, down nearly 4% over seven days, after climbing to an eight-month high of $87,251 last week.

Last week’s surge prompted CryptoQuant to say Bitcoin is in a bull market because it crossed above its 365-day moving average, which the firm calls a "definitive technical signal" that has historically marked the start of bull runs.

Short-term traders holding coins for one to three months have unrealized profits averaging around 33%, the highest since December 2024. Such margins have historically led to selling, CryptoQuant added.

Holders realised 25,700 BTC in profit last week, the largest single-day amount for 2026, one day after Bitcoin reached its eight-month high, the report noted.

CryptoQuant added that while Bitcoin still has room to rise, the rally is losing momentum and a near-term correction looks more likely.

CryptoQuant did not forecast a specific decline, but identified three support levels: the 365-day moving average near $80,000, the 200-day moving average around $71,000, and the on-chain realized price for traders at about $67,000.

The firm said that as long as these levels hold, a pullback would be a healthy consolidation within a young bull market rather than a reversal.

Bitcoin reached a record $126,080 in October last year but began to fall later that month after the biggest liquidation event in crypto history closed over $19 billion in bets.

During the first half of this year, Bitcoin continued to decline after the Federal Reserve indicated it would not hurry to cut interest rates, and as investors shifted to AI-related stocks for returns.

But the so-called debasement trade — investing in assets to hedge against currency depreciation — has become popular again after US debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time in July.

Historically, Bitcoin and precious metals like gold have performed well when the US dollar weakened.