Are diamond hands panicking? The share of long-term Bitcoin holders flowing into exchanges has surged to over 5.1%, the highest level since 2020.

The crypto market continues to see persistent volatility, and on-chain data has revealed abnormal behavior from Bitcoin long-term holders (LTH). The latest data shared by CryptoQuant-verified analyst Darkfost on X points out that the recent proportion of funds transferred from LTH to exchanges has reached 5.1%, the highest level since 2020. This data suggests that amid a sharp drop in Bitcoin price, the activity level of long-term holders is rising significantly, which could bring potential selling pressure to the market.
(Background briefing: Bitcoin retraced 63k; Ethereum fell below 1,880! Total liquidations across the entire network $610 million, and the fear index continues to trend lower)
(Additional context: The size of U.S. Treasuries surged to $39.7 trillion, a new all-time high! A “debasement trade” has been triggered, with investors going crazy to scoop up Bitcoin and gold)

As Bitcoin (BTC) has recently gone through a notable sell-off, market risk-hedging sentiment and the fear index have moved along with it. On July 28, Taipei time, Darkfost, a CryptoQuant-verified author who has been cited multiple times by the authoritative outlet Bloomberg, released fresh on-chain data analysis on X (formerly Twitter), revealing unusual behavior by Bitcoin long-term investors.

💥 BTC exchange inflows from LTH recently hit a peak.

These inflows are shown in this chart as the percentage share that LTH inflows (90-dma) represent compared to the total share, which includes STH.

👉 Today 5.1% of exchange inflows belong to LTH. It’s almost a record, only… pic.twitter.com/enYA79tD0c

— Darkfost (@Darkfost_Coc) July 28, 2026

LTH exchange inflow share hits 5.1%, approaching an all-time high

Based on the chart analysis Darkfost shared, this metric measures the percentage share of exchange inflows from long-term holders (LTH) (calculated using a 90-day moving average) within total inflows (including short-term holders, STH).

He clearly stated: “Currently about 5.1% of exchange inflows are coming from LTH. This is almost a historical record—only in 2020 did it reach a higher level close to 5.5%.” Transferring long-accumulated assets to exchanges is typically viewed by the market as potential selling intent or preparation for reallocation of assets.

The big drop sparks whale activity, and the trend could ease soon

Darkfost emphasized that this dynamic—large amounts of long-term holder funds flowing into exchanges—coincides precisely with a period when Bitcoin’s price is facing a sharp decline.

However, he also gave investors a confidence boost. Since the data indicator uses a 90-day moving average (90-dma), changes in the trend carry a certain delay and inertia. Darkfost predicts that this sharply rising trend is very likely to level off in the near future; but there’s no denying that this data has already shown enough: those long-term holders that are usually viewed as a stabilizing force in the market have looked unusually active amid recent extreme volatility.