Bitcoin Price: Why Are Miners Selling More BTC Than They're Mining?

Miners jettisoning their Bitcoin (BTC) holdings characterize the prevalent mood of the financial markets, which exalts cash and nothing else. And although Bitcoin recovered and is stranded between the $6,400 to $6,900 range for the past four days since its collapse on March 12, the uncertainty in these trying times would test how investors would actually respond once the scheduled "halving" takes place in May.

Miners who maintain the transactions in BTC's ledger will receive far lesser rewards in a few weeks from now. The so-called "halving" will reduce the amount of Bitcoin that miners receive from 12.5 to 6.25. This fundamental event is believed to be bullish for the top crypto, but the grim picture right now is certainly disputing that.

Coindesk reported that miners are now selling more BTCs than they are mining, and this was found out by using the miner's rolling inventory (MRI) figure, which is created by ByteTree, a provider of institutional-grade crypto-asset data. The MRI tracks the changes in inventory levels.

A reading above 100 on the MRI means that miners are unloading their inventory more than they are acquiring it, whereas a below 100 reading means that miners aren't selling more than they mine. And during the top crypto's 80% rally from dropping below $4,000, the MRI lingered above 100.

And the selling of supply could signify a lot of things, but mainly it hints at a desire for cash like what happened with gold recently. There is also this fear that further reduction of rewards could render mining operations unprofitable.

But by the same token, selling more inventory is also deemed to be positive by some because of how the crypto appreciated from very low prices.

"When the price of bitcoin can rally sharply from the local lows and buyers can absorb the extra bitcoin sold by the miners with little impact, it is a sign of strength in the overall market," Connor Abendschein, crypto research analyst at Digital Assets Data told CoinDesk.

The Bitcoin network also offers clues pertinent to the resilience of the cryptocurrency. Decrypt notes how Bitcoin transactions are increasing and improving at the same time. There's also a surge in trading volume, Bitcoin wallets (which came after the crash), and money transferred on BTC.

Still, the reality of the situation is that the benchmark crypto will have to face the halving in May. If this dumping of inventory is indicative of more bad times to come for Bitcoin, then investors should brace themselves.