Bitcoin price current resistance near $87,000 was reinforced by investors who bought BTC in late 2025, per new research.
Bitcoin (BTC) investors sitting on unrealized losses are capping price gains at $87,700, while ETF inflows strengthen support at $80,000, analysis reveals.
New research from onchain analytics platform Glassnode reveals that the breakeven point for a cohort of new Bitcoin holders is currently acting as resistance.
Since the start of the year, two groups of holders have kept BTC/USD from moving higher once it challenges their acquisition cost basis.
In November 2025, price lost the cost basis of investors with entries between six and 12 months prior, which sat at $94,000 at the time. When price attempted to break above the trendline at $97,100 in January 2026, it became resistance, triggering a rejection and sending price lower.
A similar resistance trendline is given by the cost basis of investors who bought BTC one to two years prior. This cohort slipped into aggregate loss in February of this year as price lost its cost basis of $76,900. In May, the cost basis halted a price rebound at just above $82,000.
In both cases, underwater buyers looking to exit their positions at breakeven produced a wall of sell-side pressure that new demand could not match. Commenting, Glassnode noted the extent of BTC price retracements after rejections from either cost basis.
“Bitcoin rose to the 6-12 month cost basis in January and then fell by more than a third. It met the 1-2 year cost basis in May and fell by about a quarter,” it said. “The 1-2 year holders also stepped up their selling into the rally at the start of October.”
The cost bases for the six-to-12-month cohort and one-to-two-year cohort are currently $87,700 and $99,500, respectively.
BTC/USD chart with cohort breakeven levels (screenshot). Source: Glassnode
The area above $87,000 also contains the 2026 opening price at $87,490 and the 20-month simple moving average (SMA) for BTC/USD at $87,165, a level that has historically preceded new all-time highs once reclaimed as support.
Below current spot price, the cost basis of the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) marks one of several support levels of interest around the $80,000 mark.
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