Bitcoin’s (BTC) price experienced renewed selling pressure from short-term holders (STH) on March 6, after ending its six-week losing streak during the first week of March 2026.
During the past 24 hours, STH sent 27,000 BTC, valued at about $1.86 billion at press time, to crypto exchanges in profit, according to on-chain data analysis from CryptoQuant, a crypto analytics platform. Interestingly, this sharp uptick in profit-taking from STH today represents the highest since January 14, 2026, which resulted in a 36% drop in the BTC price for the subsequent weeks.
BTC STH profit to exchanges sum 24H. Source: CryptoQuant
Why are STH for Bitcoin selling?
The STH for Bitcoin has accelerated their selling pressure amid the precarious macroeconomic outlook caused by the ongoing Middle East crisis. After a relief rally for the BTC price this week to hit a local high of about $74,000, its spot and Open Interest (OI) had faded by Friday.
For instance, the United States spot BTC Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) recorded a net cash outflow of about $228 million on March 5, according to market data from SoSoValue. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s OI has declined from $49.66 billion on March 5 to hover around $45.26 billion at press time. As such, Bitcoin’s short-term holders have been expecting further selloff in the midterm, amid low liquidity inflows.
“Their realized price is around $68,000. Current news flow and macroeconomic projections remain rather negative in the short term, which makes this behavior relatively understandable and, in this case, fairly rational,” CryptoQuant’s analyst stated.
What’s next for the BTC price?
With the heightened selling pressure for Bitcoin, it is safe to assume its rally this week was part of its dead-cat bounce. The BTC’s macro bearish sentiment is bolstered by its death-cross between its 50 and 200 SMA, in the 3-day timeframe, according to trading expert Ali Martinez.
“Bitcoin recently printed a new death cross. If history repeats, even partially, this could signal the beginning of the final leg down of this cycle,” Martinez highlighted.
Meanwhile, if BTC price rebounds above $94,000, potentially fueled by a short squeeze, a fresh macro bull rally will be imminent in the subsequent weeks and months.