Bitcoin Rebounds Above $64K Amid Signs of Panic-Driven Selling

Bitcoin's price recovered above $64K after plummeting from $65,409 to $62,466 on July 31st and sliding further on August 1st. The sell-off was fueled by concerns over a Coldcard hardware wallet hack, which caused short-term holders (STH) to lead the decline.

A closer look at STH profit/loss-to-exchange metric shows a heavy wave of selling since August 1st, with a cumulative -7,336.40 BTC sold, worth roughly $468.31 million. However, this selling looks mostly panic-driven, and the latest reading on August 3rd shows net purchases of roughly 3,150.66 BTC, a sharp turn from the previous days' negative numbers.

Long-term holders (LTH) also played a role in driving down Bitcoin's price, with LTH booking more profit than STH according to the Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR). The LTH-SOPR to STH-SOPR ratio has surged to a fresh high of roughly 0.9355 since July 21st.

The spot market has leaned towards profit-taking, with netflow standing at a positive $105.7 million. However, U.S. demand has pulled in the other direction, with the US spot Bitcoin ETFs drawing stronger buying, indicating a cautiously bullish outlook.