How Much Bitcoin Is Actually For Sale?
Most Bitcoin is sitting in wallets that haven't moved in years. Only a sliver actively trades — and that sliver decides how easy it is to buy right now.
Out of all the Bitcoin currently in circulation, most are held by people who haven't touched them in years. Read more
The ratio of long-held to trading-pool Bitcoin sits at the 5th percentile of the last 4 years — near the loose end of the range. The split is 61% long-held vs 39% in the trading pool, with the trading side at a multi-year-high share.
The trading pool totals 7.84M BTC, of which 425.2K BTC (5% of the trading pool) changes hands day to day. Plenty of coins are available right now if buyers want them.
Periods this loose have historically lined up with cycle tops or selling phases — long-term holders cashing out to new buyers near the highs. Watch the ratio for a turn back upward as the first sign that the long-term-holder pool is starting to rebuild again.
Ratio of locked-away to available Bitcoin over 24 months. Currently in the 5th percentile of the last four years.
- The trading pool is near the high end of its 4-year range — currently at the 5th percentile (very low).
- 39% of total supply is in the trading pool, well above the historical median.
- Watch for the scarcity ratio breaking back above the 30th percentile — that's the first quantitative signal that long-term holders are absorbing supply again rather than selling.
Understanding Bitcoin Liquid & Illiquid Supply
Every Bitcoin currently in circulation sits in a wallet. The page splits those wallets into groups based on how often the coins move. **Long-held coins** (sometimes called illiquid supply) live in wallets that rarely send or receive — usually owned by long-term holders who treat Bitcoin as a savings asset. **The trading pool** (liquid supply) is everything else: coins in wallets that move them regularly. Inside the trading pool, a smaller slice — **changing hands** (hot supply) — has been actively moving in the last few weeks. The donut on the page splits the trading pool into the slower-moving portion and the active-changing-hands portion, so all three pieces sum to 100%.
The scarcity ratio divides the long-held pool by the trading pool. When the ratio is high, most Bitcoin is locked away by long-term holders and there's less available to buy. When it's low, more coins sit in the trading pool. Raw values shift slowly over years as the supply matures, so today's ratio gets compared against the last 4 years of itself — that comparison is the percentile shown on the page. "Hard to Buy" (high percentile) and "Easy to Buy" (low percentile) mean the same thing across cycles.
Historically, the supply-availability picture has loosely tracked price cycles. Periods near the "Hard to Buy" end have often coincided with stretches where long-term holders absorb supply ahead of major price moves up. Periods near the "Easy to Buy" end have often coincided with cycle tops or selling phases — when long-term holders are selling to new buyers. The relationship isn't mechanical and shouldn't be read as a price prediction, but the historical context is part of what makes the percentile useful.