Market participants continue to search for reliable signals that can define the timing of Bitcoin’s next major expansion phase. While price forecasts, macro narratives, and ETF flows increasingly shape expectations, a chart published on February 16, 2025, by Alphractal founder and CEO Joao Wedson has added a new layer to that discussion. Focusing specifically on the profit positioning of long-term Bitcoin holdersthis chart reveals a historic pattern about bull market timing.
What The Bitcoin Chart Tracks — And Why It Matters
In his post, Wedson presented a long-range chart built around the Long-Term Holder Net Unrealized Profit/Loss metric. The indicator measures the average unrealized gains or losses held by investors classified as long-term participants—wallets historically associated with stronger holding behavior and lower sell-side activity.
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Rather than emphasizing short-term speculation, Wedson framed the metric as a lens into the financial condition of Bitcoin’s most resilient market cohort. According to the data shared, the current reading sits at 0.36. That level indicates long-term holders remain in aggregate profitmeaning their holdings, on average, are valued above acquisition cost.
The chart visualizes this positioning through color-coded zones. Green regions represent periods where long-term holders hold unrealized profits. These phases have historically aligned with either late bull market environments or transitional consolidation ranges. The persistence of green, in Wedson’s presentation, signals that deep cycle stress has not yet fully materialized among conviction investors. By contrast, the most consequential signals in the chart appear when the metric shifts below zero.
When The Metric Turns Negative
Wedson’s analysis places primary emphasis on the moments when Long-Term Holder NUPL enters negative territory. In these intervals, even the most historically patient investors hold unrealized losses. The chart marks these periods in red, visually distinguishing them from profit-dominant phases.
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Historically, those red zones have coincided with late bear-market conditions—periods characterized by widespread pessimism and compressed valuations. Wedson described this stage as one reflecting maximum market depressionwhere financial stress extends beyond speculative traders to reach long-term capital.
The chart’s historical mapping shows that these negative phases have preceded every major Bitcoin bull cycle. Each time the metric dropped below zero, it aligned with late-stage capitulation dynamics: seller exhaustion, reduced distribution pressure, and a transfer of coins towards entities with stronger holding capacity.
Within this framework, the red zone functions less as a signal of structural weakness and more as a reset phase. It marks the point where excess leverage and speculative positioning have been cleared, establishing conditions historically associated with cycle bottoms.
Wedson’s interpretation positions opportunity within these depression phases rather than during profit-heavy expansions. As illustrated in the chart, prior bull runs did not begin while long-term holders were comfortably in profit. They emerged after losses had permeated the cohort. With the metric still positive at 0.36, the chart suggests that, based strictly on historical precedent, the final capitulation preceding the next bull run has yet to occur.
Featured Image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
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