Not since 2023 has Bitcoin suffered so many losses from “tourists” (short-term investors).

Tourists sell their BTC. Network metrics are an important source of information as they allow us to track the movement of funds in blockchain networks and determine market trends . Among these data net profit and loss balance is a useful indicator of whether investors are making a profit or selling at a loss. And according to CryptoQuant’s latest analysis, that figure is just became negative for Bitcoin for the first time in several years.

Key points of this article:

• Short-term investors are now selling their BTC at a loss, sending their net profit and loss into the negative for the first time since 2023.
• This could signal a weakening of the Bitcoin price like in March 2022.

In a report published on January 22, on-chain transaction experts CryptoQuant analyzed net profit and loss balance on Bitcoin . This metric measures the profit or loss that investors (theoretically) get when they move BTC funds to the blockchain.

In summary, if the price of Bitcoin grew up between making a deposit BTC and next transfer (which, however, is not necessarily an actual sale), is deemed to be profit and vice versa if the price is falling between the deposit and the next transfer is considered to be loss .

And according to data analyzed by CryptoQuant, it is the first case since October 2023 when this net profit/loss balance became negative for the last 30 days. This means that short-term investors or “tourists” as Ki Yong Joo (founder of CryptoQuant) calls them, sell their bitcoins at a loss .

“Bitcoin tourists cut their losses”.

Ki Yong Joo, founder of CryptoQuant

X account @ki_young_ju

A sign of bitcoin price weakness? CryptoQuant analysts note that this one shift into negative territory balance of net profit/loss from Bitcoin transfers has already occurred in March 2022 when the market was preparing to severe crypto winter which will last until January 2023.

The report also explains that “the decline in net profit shows about weakening [бичачого імпульсу] bitcoin prices “.

The key question is whether this will be the case temporary or a net profit/loss balance on Bitcoin will go down even more in the minus Some, such as Cathy Wood and her ARK Invest funds still predict Bitcoin will hit $500,000 in the coming years. And it is true that historically long-term holdings of Bitcoin ( HODL ) always led to profit if measured over several years.