Is It More Profitable To Hold Bitcoin For The Short-Term? 2025 Numbers Are Here

Bitcoin’s 2025 value motion has been anything but smooth, however one group of buyers has quietly dominated the yr’s revenue statistics. Short-term holders, that are labeled as addresses holding BTC for just one to a few months, spent a lot of the yr within the inexperienced amidst the push to a number of all-time highs and ensuing drawdowns all year long. 

On-chain information from 2025 now supplies a clearer reply as to whether short-term publicity to Bitcoin really paid off for holders, regardless that conditions look far less comfortable on the time of writing.

Short-Term Holders Spent Most Of 2025 In Profit

According to data from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, Bitcoin short-term holders have been in a worthwhile place for roughly two-thirds of 2025. On-chain revenue and loss information exhibits that this cohort was in revenue for about 66% of buying and selling days, which interprets to about 230 buying and selling days. 

During the primary half of 2025, Bitcoin’s value steadily traded above the common realized value of short-term holders, permitting current patrons to lock in beneficial properties whilst volatility remained elevated. This sample grew to become particularly seen throughout mid-year rallies, when Bitcoin pushed above the $100,000 area and short-term revenue margins expanded sharply. 

Each time the worth reclaimed ranges above the short-term realized value, realized beneficial properties dominated the distribution. Back in January, Bitcoin maintained a place above the short-term price foundation for practically two consecutive months, creating the primary prolonged window of sustained profitability for this cohort in 2025. 

The same, and much more pronounced, section unfolded between May and October, when short-term holders sat on substantial unrealized beneficial properties. During this era, the profit-and-loss margin climbed as high as 20 p.c in July, coinciding with Bitcoin’s first breakout above $115,000. During this era, Spot Bitcoin ETFs have been witnessing large institutional inflows that cancelled out any profit-taking from short-term holders.

BTC: STH Realized Profit and Loss. Source: CryptoQuant

Current Picture Shows Short-Term Holders Underwater

That favorable backdrop has become losses in current weeks. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is buying and selling across the low-$90,000 vary, whereas the short-term holder realized value is simply above $100,000. This places the current revenue/loss margin at a lack of about 10%. 

Interestingly, this margin just lately fell to as little as adverse 20% when the Bitcoin value broke under $85,000 in November, which is the deepest loss regime for short-term holders in 2025.

Nonetheless, the 2025 information exhibits that short-term holding was worthwhile for a lot of the yr, however the outlook is not favorable right now. Structurally, these deep loss pockets normally present up nearer to the late phases of a correction than the early ones.

Right now, an important factor for short-term holders is for Bitcoin to reclaim the short-term realized price and push again above $100,000. Until then, short-term holders will keep below strain, even with the yearly statistics leaning of their favor.

Featured picture from Unsplash, chart from TradingView