Bitcoin’s Top-Level Holders Stay Strong as Price Dips Below $118K
Recent on-chain data reveals that Bitcoin investors who bought near the recent price peak are demonstrating remarkable resilience, choosing to hold their positions despite the cryptocurrency’s latest pullback. Analysis from Glassnode shows these high-basis holders are maintaining their grip on substantial supply levels above $118,000.
Understanding Bitcoin’s Cost Basis Distribution Patterns
Glassnode’s latest Cost Basis Distribution Heatmap analysis provides fascinating insights into investor behavior during Bitcoin’s recent price movements. This metric tracks how much of Bitcoin’s circulating supply was acquired at different price points, offering a window into potential market dynamics. The cost basis concept plays a crucial role in on-chain analysis because investors tend to exhibit predictable behaviors when prices approach their original purchase levels.
During bullish market conditions, profitable investors often view price drops toward their cost basis as attractive buying opportunities, creating natural support zones. Conversely, investors sitting on losses frequently wait for price recoveries to their breakeven points before selling, which can establish resistance barriers.
#Bitcoin holders are locking in profits again, and it’s showing up clearly onchain.
We’re seeing one of the highest spikes in realized profits since the start of this bull cycle.
Historically, these waves of profit-taking don’t signal the end of the market but rather a pause, a… pic.twitter.com/iE7MKID4L7
— Cas Abbé (@cas_abbe) August 1, 2025
The data shows Bitcoin’s explosive rally to new all-time highs last month created what analysts call an “airgap” in the cost basis distribution. These gaps emerge when Bitcoin moves so rapidly through price levels that minimal supply changes hands, leaving sparse cost basis clusters in those ranges. Such airgaps represent behavioral wild cards since they lack established support or resistance levels from previous trading activity.
Supply Concentration Above Key Levels
The heatmap reveals that during Bitcoin’s earlier consolidation phase, supply became increasingly concentrated above the $116,000 mark. Below this threshold down to $109,000, supply remained notably thin, creating the conditions for the current airgap exploration.
Bitcoin’s recent decline has finally pushed the asset into this previously untested territory, and early signs suggest new supply is beginning to fill these gaps. This development could indicate renewed investor interest in accumulating during the dip, potentially establishing fresh support clusters within this price range.
Perhaps most intriguingly, the data shows significant supply still maintains cost basis levels between $118,000 and $120,000. While some panic selling has emerged from investors who purchased in this elevated range, a substantial portion appears committed to weathering the current downturn rather than crystallizing losses.
Current market conditions show Bitcoin trading around $114,200, representing a 4% decline over the past week. The coming days will prove critical in determining whether the airgap continues to fill with new buying interest and if those top-tier buyers maintain their resolve.
Implications for Near-Term Price Action
The resilience shown by high-basis holders could provide underlying stability as Bitcoin tests lower levels, though the ultimate resolution of the current airgap will likely determine immediate price direction. This supply distribution pattern suggests that while downside pressure exists, significant selling exhaustion may already be occurring among recent buyers.