Bitcoin
Big Shorters Bet $6.9 Billion Against Pro-Bitcoin MicroStrategy, How Are They Faring?
Big shorters have placed significant bets on Michael Saylor’s business intelligence and software firm, MicroStrategy, selling stocks worth approximately $6.9 billion. Despite the substantial short positions, MicroStrategy stocks (MSTR), have continued to rise, outperforming investor expectations.
MicroStrategy Big Shorters Lose Confidence
MicroStrategy short sellers are currently losing confidence as the price of MSTR stocks has skyrocketed over the past six months. The software intelligence firm currently holds a staggering $6.9 billion in short positions, constituting 23.14% of its market capitalization of nearly $30 billion.
Short selling is a trading strategy where investors speculate on a stock’s potential decline. These investors, typically called shorters, borrow shares and sell them in the hopes that they will fall and then buy them back again at a lower price to take profits.
In the context of MicroStrategy, the company’s stocks have not witnessed a significant decline since the beginning of the year. To be precise, MSTR stocks have risen by approximately 190.08% over the past six months.
Numerous institutions are still hoping for a decline in MSTR’s price to enable them to generate profits. The high stakes and substantial capital involved in shorting MicroStrategy could pose a risk to several investors if the price of the stock does not plummet.
Moreover, the tripling of MSTR stock value from $570 in December to $1,656 has made current short positions incredibly expensive. If the company continues to record more gains in its stock prices, short sellers may be put in a precarious position, potentially forcing many to exit their trades early to avoid bigger losses.
Fintel, a financial data and intelligence provider has revealed a big short list, outlining the largest short positions disclosed by institutions to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the data, MicroStrategy’s biggest net short position holds approximately $2.4 billion.
MSTR’s big short position is also the 27th largest amongst other institutions. SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust currently ranks first, holding more than $114 billion in net shorts.
MicroStrategy Stock Price Update
Short sellers have not been the only investors making big bets, as MicroStrategy founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Michael Saylor has been making substantial wagers on Bitcoin for the past few years.
Earlier in January 2024, Saylor revealed he was selling shares to buy more Bitcoin. This decision comes after numerous Bitcoin acquisitions, positioning MicroStrategy as the top Bitcoin holder amongst public companies, according to CoinGecko. As of May 1, 2024, the software firm owned a staggering 214,400 BTC, valued at $15.2 billion, and accounting for more than 1% of Bitcoin’s total circulating supply.
Moreover, in one year, MSTR stocks have risen by more than 469.66%, fueling a price increase to $1,656.63, as of writing. Google Finance data has disclosed that the stock value is still appreciating. In the last five days, MSTR is up by 3.67% and 31.75% over the past month.
Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
The cryptocurrency market has not had a clear direction in 2025, reflecting the uncertain condition of the digital asset industry. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is currently 24% away from its record-high price of $108,786 reached in January 2025.
With the premier cryptocurrency steadily drifting away from its all-time high, there have been questions about what phase of the cycle the market is currently in. Interestingly, recent on-chain data offers some insight into the current state of the Bitcoin market and the reaction of the participants.
Are Seasoned BTC Investors Anticipating A Price Surge?
In a Quicktake post on the CryptoQuant platform, analyst Axel Adler Jr. shared an analysis of the current Bitcoin cycle, offering insight into the behavior of an important group of investors. According to the online pundit, seasoned BTC players are back to accumulating the flagship cryptocurrency.
Adler Jr. revealed that the experienced BTC investors have been involved in four phases of accumulation (January 2023, October 2023, October 2024, March 2025) in the current cycle. On the flip side, the selling activity of these market participants has reached four distinct peaks, including January 2024, April 2024, July 2024, and January 2025.
The relevant on-chain indicator here is the Value Days Destroyed (VDD) metric, which tracks the spending behaviour of long-term investors. The chart below shows that the VDD metric has been steadily declining since the start of 2025.
Source: CryptoQuant
Using the chart as a basis, Adler Jr. mentioned that three major features define the current phase of the Bitcoin cycle. Firstly, the seasoned investors, who were actively distributing their BTC at local peaks, have now shifted their strategy toward holding and accumulating their coins.
Additionally, the Value Days Destroyed metric suggests an absence of significant selling pressure, which means that the experienced traders are skeptical about profit at the current Bitcoin price. Moreover, periods of low VDD values have historically preceded significant upward price movements, as investors accumulate in anticipation of a price surge.
Ultimately, this positive shift in the behavior of seasoned Bitcoin holders suggests that there might be room for further price growth for Bitcoin in the medium term.
Bitcoin Price At A Glance
As of this writing, the price of BTC sits at around $83,200, with an over 2% decline in the past 24 hours. According to data from CoinGecko, the flagship cryptocurrency is also down by about 2% on the weekly timeframe.
BTC price reclaims $83,000 level on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image created by DALL-E, chart from TradingView
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Popular CryptoQuant analyst Maartunn reports that 8,000 Bitcoin (BTC) which have been dormant for five to seven years have been moved suddenly, adding to current bearish concerns in the crypto. This development comes after a rather adventurous week as BTC prices struggled to break above $89,000, following an initial steady bullish climb, before succumbing to heavy selling pressures driven by US President Donald Trump’s hawkish tariff policy.
$674 Million In Old BTC Transfers In Single Block – Cause For Alarm?
The Spent Output Age Bands is a crucial metric to measure how long Bitcoin tokens remain inactive before moving. According to Maartuun in an X post, this metric has recently revealed that 8,000 BTC worth $674 million that was last transferred between 2018 and 2020 have been moved recently in a single block drawing significant market attention.
This transfer follows a string of recent activations of dormant Bitcoin stashes. On March 24, a 14-year inactive Bitcoin wallet suddenly moved 100 Bitcoin valued at $8.5 million. Meanwhile, in early March, six ancient Bitcoin wallets also transferred nearly 250 BTC worth $22 million.
Notably, the most recent transaction reported by Maartuun is of far larger size with potentially strong implications for an uncertain Bitcoin market. Generally, a movement of such a large amount of BTC from long-term dormancy is usually interpreted as a signal for incoming selling pressure leading to major price corrections.
However, there are other potential non-bearish motives behind such transactions such as internal wallet shuffling by institutional investors or large holders as well as a cold storage reorganization. Currently, the owners of the new wallets receiving the 8000 is unknown thus reducing the potential of a bearish reaction from BTC holders.
Bitcoin Price Overview
In the last day, Bitcoin prices declined by 4.00% after the US Government announced intentions to impose a 25% tariff on auto imports and goods from China, Mexico, and Canada starting from April 3. This marks the latest negative reaction of the crypto market to President Trump’s international trade policies following similar incidents in early February and mid-March.
These measures by the Donald Trump administration are flaming fears of a potential economic slowdown which could further push high-risk assets such as BTC out of investors’ portfolios leading to a further downside.
At press time, Bitcoin currently trades at $83,693 reflecting a decline of 0.72% and 2.53% in the last seven and 30 days respectively. Meanwhile, the asset’s daily trading volume is up by 19.38% and is valued at $31.58 billion. The BTC market cap now stands at $1.66 trillion and still represents a dominant 61.1% of the total crypto market.
BTC trading at $83,727 on the daily chart | Source: BTCUSDT chart on Tradingview.com
The Bitcoin price seemed to be breaking out of its consolidation range early on in the week, rising to as high as $88,500 on Monday, March 24. However, the flagship cryptocurrency appears to be back to ground zero, retracing to around $84,000 on Friday, March 28.
This recent price correction came following the release of inflation data in the United States. With the latest inflation data suggesting delayed rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve, risk assets — including cryptocurrencies — experienced significant downward pressure to close the week.
Here’s How BTC Price Could Fall To $62,000
The story gets a little grim for the world’s largest cryptocurrency after popular crypto analyst Crypto Capo put forward a bearish projection for the Bitcoin price in their latest post on the X platform. According to the crypto trader, the price of BTC could be on its way to a new low in this cycle.
Crypto Capo highlighted in their analysis of the BTC 12-hour chart that the $84,000 – $85,000 is pivotal for the premier cryptocurrency’s future trajectory. The online pundit noted that the Bitcoin price action could go one of two ways over the next few weeks.
In the first scenario, Crypto Capo expects the price of Bitcoin to enjoy a short-lived bullish burst to within the $95,000 – $100,000 range. This initial price run-up would be a bull trap for investors, according to the analyst. For context, a bull trap is a pattern that lures long traders (bulls) into the market by an initial upward surge followed by a quick reversal.
Fittingly, Crypto Capo predicts that Bitcoin will experience a capitulation event that will see its value plummet to the next main support. As seen in the chart below, this next major support lies within the $62,000 – $69,000 bracket, containing the April and November all-time high prices.
Source: @CryptoCapo_ on X
In the alternate scenario, Crypto Capo highlighted how the first bull trap idea could be invalidated. According to the trader, if the Bitcoin price successfully closes beneath the $84,000 – $85,000 range, it could fall to the $62,000 – $69,000 bracket.
Bitcoin Price At A Glance
As of this writing, the price of Bitcoin is moving around the $83,300 level, reflecting a 3% decline in the past 24 hours. This single correction event has wiped out the premier coin’s early-week profit, with CoinGecko data showing no significant gain or loss in the last seven days.
The price of BTC slides beneath $84,000 on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image created by DALL-E, chart from TradingView
Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.
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