The Bitcoin STH Realized P/L Heatmap plots daily realized profit and loss across cost-basis buckets, restricted to spends by Short-Term Holders (coins that last moved relatively recently). For each day, coins that are sold or moved on-chain are grouped by the price at which they were originally acquired, and the realized profit or loss on that day is distributed into the corresponding cost-basis bucket. The result is a two-dimensional map of where, along the price axis, short-term holders are actually locking in gains or losses.
Read the chart vertically against the current Bitcoin price and horizontally through time. Heat concentrated near the current price signals fast-turnover trading, with short-term holders moving coins acquired close to where price sits now. Heat clustered near the zero line, where cost basis meets realized value with little gain, marks recent capitulation of panic buyers who bought near a local top and exited at or below their entry.
Use the heatmap to gauge the composition and stress of short-term demand. Bands of activity migrating toward the current price indicate healthy, profit-driven rotation, while dense capitulation clusters near zero often coincide with short-term holders flushing out weak hands. Because it isolates only recently acquired Bitcoin, it is most useful for reading near-term sentiment and turnover rather than the deeper conviction captured by long-term holder metrics.
Check the selected asset, units, and cohort before comparing readings. Compare the metric over consistent dates and use related measures to understand what contributes to a change.
