Analyzing the BTC bull-bear cycle from the perspective of Conviction Buyers 🔬
Previously, I introduced the “Five Major Buyer Groups Heatmap” (x.com/market_beggar/status/192...…), where one group stands out: the Conviction Buyers—those who buy BTC during dips 💎
Normally, the heatmap tracks their short- and mid-term behavior. But if you zoom out to a wider timeframe, some interesting patterns emerge 👇:
Since BTC’s inception, aside from volatility, it’s basically been a raging bull. So those Conviction Buyers scooping up BTC during crashes have truly shown remarkable foresight. That’s why I always highlight their moves in my previous posts 👀
When we track the Five Major Buyer Groups, the methodology is similar to an RSI indicator, so it leans towards mid/short-term windows like 7 or 14 days.
⚡️ Here’s where it gets interesting:
If we isolate the Conviction Buyers and disregard any time parameters, simply charting the historical “BTC supply held by Conviction Buyers,” we get the chart above:
🔸 I marked the supply = 1M BTC with a red horizontal line.
🔸 Each time “Conviction Buyer supply < 1M” is flagged with a vertical line.
Observations:
1️⃣ Almost every time Conviction Buyer supply drops below 1M, it’s a cycle top.
2️⃣ The only exception was the 2017 peak, where supply bottomed at about 1.2M.
3️⃣ In the double top of 2021, supply dipped to around 1.03M.
4️⃣ Early 2025’s top saw supply drop to about 0.82M.
5️⃣ Shrinking supply = fewer Conviction Buyers, more selling.
I’ve emphasized that this cycle is dramatically different from previous ones; the current Conviction Buyer supply situation is unique. As shown, since around July this year, their supply has hovered near 1M for an unusually long time—a pattern never seen before‼️
A similar phenomenon is happening with the “1y~3y holders” I previously covered. Check out the thread here:
x.com/market_beggar/status/192...…
Bottom line: My view hasn’t changed since the start of the year. Whether you look at long/short-term holders, 1y-3y group share, or today’s Conviction Buyer supply, the data all points to us being closer to the top than the bottom‼️
From a cyclical trading perspective, I absolutely don’t think now is the time to go spot bottom-fishing.
Still, we can’t ignore how unique this cycle is—so many unprecedented patterns have emerged. I’ve written a deep-dive analysis on this topic before, linked below for those interested.
History never repeats, but it often rhymes. How it’ll rhyme this time? Only time will tell… ⏳
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📚 Further reading:
Who’s buying now? Heatmap of the five major buyer groups by address:
x.com/market_beggar/status/192...…
1y-3y holders share: The second top that tempted more smart long-term holders to sell:
x.com/market_beggar/status/192...…
On-chain data view: Exploring the fading BTC cycles:
x.com/market_beggar/status/191...…
Zombie rally: On-chain analysis of the bizarre 2021 double top:
x.com/market_beggar/status/188...…
2021 double top revisited: What is “future data leakage”?
x.com/market_beggar/status/189...…
Thread compilation: Research & analysis on cyclical tops:
x.com/market_beggar/status/196...…
twitter.com/market_beggar/stat...