Large Miners Keep Selling BTC: Will It Push Bitcoin's Price Down?

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Miners keep selling coins, and you worry the price will be pushed down. That worry itself is reasonable. But between "miners selling" and "price being pushed down," there are several variables in between.

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Direct answer: Miner selling does create downward pressure on price, but it is usually not the only force that decides whether the price rises or falls.

How much miners actually sold

The 2026 data is clear. As of August, listed mining companies have sold about 28,000 BTC in total since the start of the year. At current prices, that is roughly 1.78 billion US dollars. That number alone is not extreme, but the pace of several major miners is worth watching. Riot Platforms sold 9,665 BTC in the first half of the year, and MARA Holdings sold 23,093 BTC in the same period. In the past 10 days, miners sold another 1,648 BTC, worth about 106 million US dollars.

The key question is why miners are selling. The current average network mining cost is about 74,300 US dollars, while the BTC price is hovering between 62,000 and 64,000 dollars. Riot's all-in cost per BTC is even close to 91,000 dollars, far above the market price. It recorded a 237 million dollar loss in Q2. When every coin mined loses money, selling BTC becomes a way to survive, not a choice.

What is offsetting miner selling pressure

In the past 17 days, whale addresses have accumulated about 30,000 BTC. That amount is larger than the 28,000 BTC miners sold over the past six months. Both forces are happening at the same time, keeping the price locked in a battle range between 61,800 and 63,100 dollars.

In addition, the ETF side is also showing signs of reversal. As of mid-August, cumulative net inflows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs have broken back above 52 billion dollars, with a single-day inflow of 297.5 million dollars. The spot demand indicator turned positive for the first time since February, at about 25,000 BTC. This means institutional buying is returning to the market, offsetting the supply coming from continued miner selling.

Why miner selling does not always directly push the price down

1. Miner selling is mostly "known pressure," and the market has already priced it in. The financial data of listed mining companies is public, and the market knows they are under pressure to sell coins. This selling is steady and predictable. It is not the same as a sudden market dump.

2. Another force on the supply side is shrinking. More than 3.5 million BTC have been idle for over ten years, accounting for 17.7% of total supply. In the past 30 days, about 14,000 more BTC joined the "unmoved for ten years" group. Long-term holders are not selling, and that limits overall supply pressure.

3. Miners themselves are also cutting capacity. The 30-day average network hashrate has dropped about 21% from its peak. A large number of high-cost mining machines have shut down or shifted to AI infrastructure. Miners are not "aggressively expanding and then aggressively dumping." Instead, they are shrinking their operations under loss pressure.

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When miner selling can really push the price down

If ETF funds continue to flow out, whales stop absorbing supply, and exchange balances keep rising, and all three happen at the same time, then miner selling could become the "last straw." Right now, exchange balances have indeed risen by about 24,700 BTC over the past 10 days. There is potential selling pressure, but it has not yet formed a clear trend.

A simple way to check this yourself: Open an on-chain data platform and look at two indicators. First, check whether "Miner Net Position" is still consistently negative. A negative value means miners are net sellers. Second, check whether "Apparent Demand" is stable in positive territory. A positive value means there is buying demand absorbing the supply. When these two indicators point in opposite directions at the same time, the impact of miner selling on price tends to be diluted.