Bitcoin Long-Term Holders Realized $139 Million in Losses on Nov. 5

Bitcoin (BTC) long-term holders realized $139 million in losses on Nov. 5, according to on-chain data measuring coins transferred to trading platforms. The daily total ranks as the third-highest reading of the past year, surpassed only by two sessions in February and June.

The reading comes from a metric known as LTH-RLTE — long-term holder realized loss to exchanges. It aggregates the losses that long-term holders lock in when they move coins they have held for an extended period onto trading platforms. A spike in the measure signals that investors who typically sit through volatility are capitulating, at least in part, at prices below their cost basis.

How severe was the Nov. 5 reading?

By the numbers, the $139 million figure stands above every other daily print in the trailing twelve months except two. Both of those higher readings occurred in February and June, and both coincided with what analysts describe as periods of greater fear in the market. That pattern matters: LTH-RLTE spikes have historically clustered near capitulation events rather than during calm trading.

The Nov. 5 print therefore places the session in rare company. Only twice in the past year have long-term holders realized larger daily losses on coins sent to exchanges.

What were short-term holders doing?

Short-term holders behaved differently. Their average cost basis sat between roughly $75,000 and $76,000 per coin, according to the same on-chain data. Rather than selling into weakness, most of them waited.

The restraint follows an earlier exit. Short-term holders completed most of their coin turnover earlier in the year, which means the cohort that remained going into November had already thinned out. With fewer forced sellers in that group, the selling pressure on Nov. 5 came disproportionately from the long-term holder side — the population the LTH-RLTE metric tracks.

The gap between the two cohorts is the structural story of the session: long-term holders realized losses at a near-yearly high, while short-term holders, sitting on a cost basis near the $75,000–$76,000 range, largely declined to sell.

What did analysts read into it?

On-chain analyst Murphy, cited in connection with the data, said investors appeared reluctant to realize losses but felt compelled to sell anyway. Murphy said sentiment could recover if these holders gradually recognized that conditions were less severe than they had expected.

That framing points to forced or near-forced selling rather than conviction-driven distribution. Investors who sell against their own preference — the behavior Murphy described — tend to represent late-cycle capitulation rather than the start of a sustained selling campaign.

What happens next?

The forward question is whether the Nov. 5 spike marks a one-day anomaly or the first of a cluster, as occurred in February and June. If long-term holder realized losses recede in the coming sessions and short-term holders continue to hold rather than sell, the episode would fit the capitulation-then-stabilization pattern analysts track in the LTH-RLTE series. A repeat of February- or June-scale readings, by contrast, would signal that the larger long-term holder cohort is still unwinding positions — a development on-chain analysts will watch in the daily data through the remainder of the quarter.