Analytics firm Glassnode has highlighted how the current Bitcoin market pain echoes May 2022 based on the trend in the Relative Unrealized Loss.
Bitcoin Relative Unrealized Loss Has Shot Up Recently
As explained by Glassnode in a new post on X, the current structure of the Bitcoin Relative Unrealized Loss could mirror May 2022. The “Relative Unrealized Loss” is an on-chain indicator that measures the amount of unrealized loss being held by BTC investors as a whole as a percentage of the asset’s market cap.
The metric works by going through the transaction history of each coin on the blockchain to determine the last price it was moved at. If this last selling price was less than the current spot price for any token, then the indicator considers that particular coin to be underwater right now.
The exact degree of loss carried by the token is equal to the difference between the two prices. The Relative Unrealized Loss sums up this value for all underwater coins and calculates what part of the market cap that it makes up for. Another indicator called the Relative Unrealized Profit tracks the tokens of the opposite type.
Now, here is the chart shared by the analytics firm that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Relative Unrealized Loss over the last several years:
The value of the metric seems to have shot up in recent days | Source: Glassnode on X
As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin Relative Unrealized Loss has witnessed a rise as the cryptocurrency’s price has gone through a bearish shift in recent months. The latest crash to $60,000, in particular, induced a sharp surge in the indicator.
Currently, the Relative Unrealized Loss is sitting at a value of about 19% as the asset trades near $67,000. From the chart, it’s apparent that this is the highest level that the indicator has hit since 2023. But more importantly, the recent trajectory in the metric has looked reminiscent to that witnessed during the bear-market transition from the last cycle.
“Current market pain echoes a similar structure seen in May 2022,” noted Glassnode. The bear market of 2022 didn’t reach its bottom until the FTX crash put investors in an unrealized loss exceeding 60% of the market cap. It now remains to be seen when Bitcoin will reach a low this time around.
In some other news, the market downturn that has followed since the October all-time high (ATH) has resulted in the largest drawdown in history for the US spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as the analytics firm has pointed out in another X post.
How the drawdown experienced by the US BTC spot ETFs has fluctuated over the last couple of years | Source: Glassnode on X
At the moment, Bitcoin spot ETFs are down 100,300 BTC. “Institutional de-risking has added structural weight to the ongoing weakness, reinforcing the broader risk-off environment,” explained Glassnode.
BTC Price
Bitcoin has been stuck in consolidation recently as its price is floating around $66,700.
The trend in the price of the coin over the last five days | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
