Bitcoin struggles at $83,000 sell wall as whales distribution flip into net selling

Bitcoin $BTC$79,355.36 investors pivot to a state of distribution as the $83,000 resistance level continues to hold.

The market on aggregate has entered a period of distribution, or net selling, for the first time since early June, as the largest cryptocurrency by market capitilization has struggled to break through the key $83,000 sell wall and its previous May high, subsequently slipping back below $80,000.

The pullback follows one of bitcoin’s strongest weekly gains in years. In mid-August, the asset jumped from around $64,000 to $79,000 after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced plans to buy back U.S. government bonds, helping contain yields at the long end of the Treasury market.

Glassnode’s Accumulation Trend Score by Wallet Cohort measures the behaviour of different investor groups based on wallet size and the number of coins acquired over the previous 15 days. A reading closer to 1 indicates accumulation, while a reading closer to 0 signals distribution. Exchanges, miners and certain other entities are excluded.

All wallet cohorts are now distributing bitcoin on aggregate at 0.37, led by whales holding at least 1,000 $BTC. The shift follows almost three months of aggressive accumulation across nearly every cohort, while bitcoin traded largely sideways around $60,000 throughout the Summer.

Bitcoin is also encountering resistance at its 50-week moving average, which tracks the asset’s average closing price over the previous 50 weeks, currently standing at $79,687. However, a potential golden cross, when the 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-day moving average, which could occur as early as Tuesday, giving bulls some optimism that bitcoin may eventually break through the resistance zone.