Bitcoin price analysis: Next key level to watch as short-term holders exit

Bitcoin (BTC) price has dropped below $80,000 on May 8 after a rejection above $82,850 was accelerated by notable spot selling.

BTC price fell 1.34% over the past 24 hours, losing around $1,083 to trade at about $79,840 at press time. As such, the flagship coin’s market capitalization declined by $21.5 billion to hover at approximately $1.6 trillion at the time of publication.

Bitcoin price has experienced heightened selling pressure after recently approaching a major liquidity level around $88,880, which coincides with the average price for investors who entered between 3 and 6 months ago, as Finbold explained.  With some traders positioning for further downside in hopes of a capitulation-driven bottom, the more important level may sit just below the current price.

Bitcoin price target as short-term traders exit

Amid the recent Bitcoin price drop, the number of BTC holders declined at the fastest rate in nearly 2 years, according to data from Santiment analyzed by Finbold on Friday. Over the past 5 days, BTC’s holders declined by 245,000 wallets, the most since the summer of 2024, leaving approximately 58.88 million at the time of reporting.

As such, the next major level for BTC’s price to watch is $75,000, since it coincides with the point at which short-term holders – those who acquired the flagship coin over the past one to three months – flipped from aggregate loss to profit in early April, as per metrics from CryptoQuant. Furthermore, this zone separates a healthy pullback from a structural breakdown.

Meanwhile, with short-term holders sitting on their highest unrealized profit margins since June 2025, a successful retest and rebound from $75,000 could signal a strong bullish recovery, and vice versa.