Glassnode’s October 2026 data points to concentrated selling by investors who bought during Bitcoin’s 2025 rally. With BTC near $84,000, that price is below the roughly $89,000 and $97,000 average cost bases of two cohorts. Buyers who entered during the decline, by contrast, were not selling, according to the reporting on Glassnode’s data.
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Who is selling—and who is holding?
Investors who bought during the 2025 rally were bringing more Bitcoin to market per day than at any other point in 2026, Glassnode reported. Two groups were below their average purchase prices: holders whose coins were bought six to 12 months earlier, at an average cost basis near $89,000, and holders whose coins were bought one to two years earlier, near $97,000.
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At a price around $84,000, those averages are about $5,000 and $13,000 higher, respectively. They describe cohort cost bases, not the purchase price of every individual coin or the price at which every seller sold.
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The reporting also says investors who bought during the decline were not selling. That is a specific observation about this group—not evidence that every newer buyer or every long-term holder is holding.
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Another phase of selling after the 2025 peak
The October selling comes after an earlier period of substantial realized losses. In its July 2026 analysis, Glassnode reported that long-term-holder loss realization had peaked at about $280 million per day. That earlier measure provides context for the market’s losses, but it is distinct from October’s report about which purchase cohorts were distributing coins.
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Bitcoin remained below its October 2025 peak in the October reporting. The data therefore describes continued pressure during a broader decline, rather than evidence on its own that selling has ended or that a market bottom is in.
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What the data says about a sustained recovery
Glassnode’s September research described Bitcoin as trading above the True Market Mean, around $77,000, and above the short-term-holder cost basis. It also placed price just above a large block of long-term-holder supply around $84,000–$85,000—a notable area of supply near the price discussed in October.
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Those levels are useful context, not a recovery guarantee. Glassnode’s July coverage said confirmation of a bottom was still lacking and pointed to spot buying as important; its July market analysis also said institutional demand had not stabilized.
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12 In practical terms, a stronger recovery case would need evidence of buyers absorbing available supply and price holding above important cost bases—not simply a bounce in price.