At $96k, nearly 99% of BTC investors accumulating in past 155 days are holding at a loss

As the BTC price drops below $100,000, Glassnode wants to share a depressing stat. If you’ve been stacking sats any time since late spring, it’s fair to say the honeymoon is officially on hiatus.

With Bitcoin trading at $96,000a huge 99% of investors who bought in the past 155 days are in the red.

The price of BTC continues to fall, but the narrative wins the day

Almost two weeks of selling pressure on the BTC price has left traders and Twitter prophets sifting through the debris for signs of life. As does Bloomberg host Joe Weisenthal he complained: :

“Bitcoin is down for 12 consecutive days”.

Although the BTC price action feels less like a “chop” and more like a bearish ballet, Bitcoin’s infamous correlation with Nasdaq hasn’t helped. Only to ask market makers in Wintermute, who point to the slide of technology as an anchor on the digital gold narrative. When the indices fall, Bitcoin still stubbornly follows.

However, if you look hard enough, there are always reasons to smile. This week, Bitcoin made its cameo in a New Yorker cartoon, which shows that the cultural currency sometimes trumps price charts.

So if you bought the top, you might as well buy a laugh. As Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation said in response to Weisenthal, the BTC price may be down, but:

“Today’s New Yorker cartoon is about Bitcoin replacing fiat, so we’re up.”

Institutions look (and accumulate more)

However, the flows on Wall Street tell a more intriguing story. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley revealed that a “$1 trillion AUM bank” invited its team to brief advice on Bitcoin, turning what many see as a “slowdown” into acceleration. And he is not alone.

Harvard’s ETF buying spree [LINK HARVARD ARTICLE] puts its Bitcoin IBIT exposure as its largest position, as major universities and sovereign wealth funds are leading the way to Bitcoin via regulated vehicles.

Other institutions have joined the parade, unfazed by the incessant flows and plunging prices. The sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates (Al Warda) has also increased its Bitcoin ETF exposure by 230% since June 2025 and now holds 7.9 million shares valued at $517 million, as confirmed by recent filings and crypto market reports.

Chopsolidation: What is behind the selling pressure?

If you wonder why the demonstrations fizzle and bears continue the party, the analyst in chain Checkmate spells it out: the selling pressure is on directly from spot Bitcoin holders.

“This has been the case for the entire cycle so far. It took a while for people to recognize it, but the selling side by existing holders has been the primary reason for these insanely long periods of chopsolidation. People like to blame options, or manipulation, but it’s only HODLers that come out.”

One thing is for sure, in markets like this, the narrative is as much an asset as the coins themselves. While the BTC price is down, the appearance of cartoons and institutional briefings serve to remind us that volatility and visibility often go hand in hand. And sometimes, a bear market is just a comical set-up for the next punchline.