Post-Golden Cross BTC Activity Surges, With Hourly Profit Cashouts Exceeding $500 Million, Data Shows

Bitcoin Traders Lock In Gains as On-Chain Profit-Taking Surges Past $500M Per Hour

Bitcoin’s historic golden cross on May 22 set the stage for new highs — but it also kicked off a wave of disciplined selling.

As BTC touched $111,000 and now hovers near $105,600, traders have been quick to capture profits. According to data from Glassnode, realized profits exceeded $500 million per hour on three occasions in the past 24 hours — a level of on-chain activity not seen since early February.

This spike in realized gains shows many investors are trimming exposure after the rally, despite the traditionally bullish signal from the golden cross (where the 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-day).

Glassnode’s entity-adjusted data confirms that coins sold recently locked in meaningful gains — with the average moved coin yielding a 16% return. That ranks current profit margins in the top 8% of all trading days historically, based on Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR) metrics.

While this wave of profit-taking doesn’t yet indicate a market top, it reflects a shift toward caution among investors — especially with fresh volatility, ETF speculation, and macro headlines all in play.