Bitcoin HODL Waves
How long has Bitcoin been sitting still?
Every coin has an age. Follow the ones that move, the ones that wait, and what the mix says about where Bitcoin is in its cycle.
Every age, across the whole history
Every age group is stacked into one view. Orange bands at the bottom have stayed still the longest. Blue bands at the top moved recently. When the orange base grows, the supply is aging. When the blue top swells, more coins are moving. Select an age group below to keep it in focus.
Bitcoin price uses its own log scale, labelled on the left. Compare timing, not vertical distance.
Inspect and compare dates
Choose two dates to see which age groups grew or shrank.
| Age group | Change | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 years and up | 17.76% | 17.79% | +0.03 points |
| 7 to 10 years | 8.31% | 8.38% | +0.07 points |
| 5 to 7 years | 7.5% | 7.41% | −0.09 points |
| 3 to 5 years | 9.02% | 8.95% | −0.07 points |
| 2 to 3 years | 6.16% | 5.98% | −0.18 points |
| 1 to 2 years | 13.73% | 14.77% | +1.04 points |
| 6 months to 1 year | 18.4% | 17.35% | −1.05 points |
| 1 to 6 months | 11.04% | 12.81% | +1.77 points |
| 1 week to 1 month | 4.61% | 3.31% | −1.3 points |
| 1 day to 1 week | 2.33% | 2.05% | −0.28 points |
| Under a day | 1.14% | 1.2% | +0.06 points |
Right now
Most coins are staying put. The share held for a year or longer grew over the past 30 days.
That share grew by 0.81 percentage points since 28 Aug 2026, to 63.28%. Coins age into older bands when they sit still, and return to the youngest band whenever they move. When coins keep aging, owners are holding through the swings instead of selling into them.
The age split
Two sides of the same picture: time spent holding, and time since a more recent move.
Every age band
Each coin sits in one of eleven age bands, by how long since it last moved. The biggest band right now is 10 years and up, with 17.8% of all Bitcoin.
What changed
Coins that moved within the past month make up 6.56% of all Bitcoin. That is 1.53 percentage points less than on 28 Aug 2026.
A coin can move between someone’s own wallets, so a younger age does not always mean a new owner or a sale.
The long view
33.59% of all Bitcoin has stayed still for five years or longer. That is 0.02 percentage points more than on 28 Aug 2026. The oldest single band, ten years and up, holds 17.8%.
Some of these coins may be lost. Others belong to people who have chosen to keep holding. Age alone cannot tell the two apart.
What it means
Right now the supply is aging. The longer coins sit still, the less of the supply is on offer if buyers show up looking for it. In past cycles, long stretches of aging supply came during the quiet build-up before a recovery, not at the top.
Watch for the share held a year or longer to stall while the price climbs. In past cycles that stall was an early sign that long-time owners were starting to take profit. Age shows how long coins have sat still, not what their owners plan next, so read it beside coin movement and price.
Go deeper
This chart shows how long every coin has sat still. Five pages look closer at what each age is actually doing.
Understanding
Bitcoin HODL Waves
Where it stands today
63% of all Bitcoin has not moved for a year or more as of .
What are the waves?
Bitcoin HODL Waves is the name for a chart of how long coins have stayed still. Each coin belongs to one of eleven age bands, from under a day to ten years and up. Each band’s thickness shows its share of all Bitcoin. Stacking the bands across time creates the waves.
What does the mix say about the market?
When more of the supply has moved recently, the market tends to move faster and react harder. When more of it has sat still for a long time, owners are holding tighter, and the supply is settling into steadier hands.
What makes a coin older or younger?
An unmoved coin gets one day older each day. It enters the next age band when it passes that boundary. Any movement resets its age to the youngest band, including a transfer between wallets owned by the same person. See coins by the year they last moved.
Why do the oldest bands matter?
They show coins that have not moved through years of price changes. A wider old band can mean more coins crossed an age boundary than left it. It cannot prove that people bought more coins, or that every old coin is available to sell. See the profit each age locked in when it moved.
How do the waves change through a cycle?
In a long downturn, the young bands shrink and the old bands grow, as people sit on their coins instead of selling. In a long climb the pattern flips: long-time owners sell to newcomers, and those coins start again in the youngest band. Watching the shape shift over time is one of the clearest ways to see which way the cycle is turning.
Can the chart identify lost coins?
No. A coin with a lost key and a coin held by a patient owner both remain still. The chart records their age, not the owner’s reason. Read it alongside movement data when you want to understand whether older coins are actually being spent. See coins moved by age.
The numbers
behind the chart
What does the current reading show?
Held a year or longer: the latest reading is 63.28%, on . The highest reading since is 70.54% on ; the lowest is 30.09% on .
Moved within a month: the latest reading is 6.56%, on . The highest reading since is 100% on ; the lowest is 4.88% on .
Held five years or longer: the latest reading is 33.59%, on . The highest reading since is 33.63% on ; the lowest is 0% on .
Held a year or longer is recorded daily from 1 Jan 2012. The other two groups are recorded daily from 9 Jan 2009, when every coin was new. Held five years or longer reads 0% until 8 Jan 2014, when the first coins reached that age. Month-end values use the last reading on or before that date. A transfer records movement, not necessarily a sale.
What are the latest, highest and lowest readings?
| Measure | Latest | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Held a year or longer | 63.28% | 70.54% | 30.09% |
| Moved within a month | 6.56% | 100% | 4.88% |
| Held five years or longer | 33.59% | 33.63% | 0% |
How do the readings compare with earlier dates?
| Reference date | Held a year or longer | Moved within a month | Held five years or longer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 month ago | 62.47% | 8.09% | 33.57% |
| 3 months ago | 61.59% | 6.35% | 33.22% |
| 6 months ago | 59.57% | 5.99% | 31.72% |
| 1 year ago | 60.82% | 7.29% | 30.03% |
| 2 years ago | 65.64% | 6.49% | 30.97% |
What was the reading at each month’s end?
| Reading date | Held a year or longer | Moved within a month | Held five years or longer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62.68% | 7.35% | 33.57% | |
| 62.44% | 6.98% | 33.6% | |
| 61.67% | 6.56% | 33.23% | |
| 60.67% | 5.76% | 33.16% | |
| 59.84% | 7.05% | 32.38% | |
| 59.59% | 6.13% | 31.71% | |
| 59.32% | 7.27% | 31.43% | |
| 59.22% | 8.62% | 31.13% | |
| 59.17% | 8.62% | 30.72% | |
| 58.52% | 12.88% | 30.52% | |
| 60.99% | 9.47% | 30.08% | |
| 60.76% | 7.42% | 30.03% | |
| 61.08% | 7.47% | 30.03% | |
| 61.4% | 9.24% | 30.05% | |
| 62.19% | 7.89% | 30.6% | |
| 62.1% | 7.55% | 30.6% | |
| 63.2% | 8.18% | 30.59% | |
| 63.49% | 6.37% | 30.66% | |
| 62.06% | 6.97% | 30.59% | |
| 61.93% | 7.57% | 30.52% | |
| 62.1% | 13.37% | 30.69% | |
| 63.16% | 11.4% | 31.07% | |
| 64.42% | 8.83% | 31.03% | |
| 65.64% | 6.49% | 30.97% |
Source: Maketo’s daily record of how long every coin has sat still. Reading for .