On-chain · Holder cohorts
LTH vs STH Supply, explained
Bitcoin’s circulating supply split into two groups by how long each coin has sat still. Who counts as a long-term or short-term holder, how coins pass from one group to the other, and why that handoff is worth watching across a cycle.
- Cutoff
- 155 days
- Lines
- 3
- History
- From 2011
- Source
- CoinGlass
since a coin last moved
long-term supply · short-term supply · BTC price
one reading a day
holder supply, with a live price readout
What is the LTH vs STH Supply chart?
It splits every Bitcoin in circulation into two groups by one question: how long has this coin sat still? Coins that have not moved for 155 days or more are long-term holder supply. Coins that moved more recently are short-term holder supply.
The chart plots both as areas, with the Bitcoin price as a line through them. The idea is to watch the relationship between the two over a whole cycle, not either number on its own.
How a coin changes group
A coin crosses into long-term the moment it has sat still for 155 days, and drops straight back to short-term the moment it is spent. Because every coin is in exactly one group at a time, the two supplies move opposite each other and together make up almost the entire circulating supply.
That is why one line rising means the other is falling. The chart is tracking coins moving between two groups, not new coins appearing.
Where the numbers come from
The holder supply comes from CoinGlass, which publishes long-term and short-term supply as two separate daily series going back to 2011. We put them on one chart because the relationship between them is the point. The Bitcoin price line comes with the same series, and the price box at the top shows a live quote.
How coins have moved between the groups
Across past cycles, the pattern has been a handoff. Long-term supply has tended to climb through bear markets as coins matured, peaking near cycle bottoms, then fall during bull runs as holders sold into strength. Short-term supply has done the reverse: it swelled as new buyers and turnover pushed coins into the short-term group during bull markets, then drained away in bear markets.
Those are historical observations. They describe what has happened in earlier cycles and are not a promise about the next one.
The STH % of Supply box
One of the four boxes above the chart shows the share of supply that currently sits in the short-term group. A low share means most coins have been still for a long time. A high share means many have moved recently. It is a quick read on which group dominates the float, nothing more.
What the chart does not tell you
Two smooth areas invite a neat story. Four things to keep in view before you tell one.
It sorts coins by age, not by owner
A coin counts as long-term because it has not moved for 155 days, not because of who holds it. A coin moved between two wallets of the same owner counts as moved, and goes back to the short-term group.
The 155-day line is a rule, not a belief
Nothing special happens to a coin on day 155. It is a fixed cutoff chosen to separate coins that move often from coins that sit, so a coin on day 154 and a coin on day 156 are treated as different holders when they are not.
It is slow, and it describes the past
The two supplies change over months and across whole cycles. This is not a short-term chart, and patterns seen in earlier cycles are not a guarantee about later ones.
Other providers will show different levels
Other data providers use different cutoffs or adjust for exchange and custody wallets, so their long-term and short-term figures will not match these exactly. The shape over a cycle is the useful part, not the exact level.
The chart does not say who is buying or selling. It says how long coins have been still.
How to read it
Watch the handoff, not the level. Which group is gaining coins and which is losing them tells you more than the exact size of either. A long climb in long-term supply while price stays low looks very different from a swell in short-term supply while price runs up.
Read it beside price, over months. The Bitcoin line lets you see what the market was doing while coins moved between groups. You can switch either axis between log and linear scale, and turn any line off in the legend.
Where it fits
This is an on-chain background chart for reading a whole cycle. It is slow and it describes the past, so it is not a short-term signal, and it is not an input to either Heatmeter. It works best next to price and to the cost-basis charts in the same On-chain section.
Common questions
What is the LTH vs STH Supply chart?
A chart that splits Bitcoin’s circulating supply into two cohorts: long-term holder (LTH) supply, coins that have not moved for 155 days or more, and short-term holder (STH) supply, coins that moved more recently. It plots both as areas with the Bitcoin price as a line, and a stat box shows the short-term share of supply. It is a chart to read, not a score, and it does not feed either Heatmeter.
Why 155 days?
It is the standard cutoff used for this split: long enough that a coin sitting still for that time behaves differently from one that changes hands often. It is a convention, not a law. A coin crosses it the moment it has been still for 155 days, and drops back the moment it moves.
Why do the two supplies move in opposite directions?
Because every coin is in exactly one group at a time, so together they make up almost the entire circulating supply. When a coin moves out of the long-term group it lands in the short-term one, and when a short-term coin sits still long enough it crosses over. One group gaining coins means the other is losing them.
What does the STH % of Supply box show?
The share of circulating supply that currently sits in the short-term group. A low share means most coins have been still for a long time. A high share means a lot of coins have moved recently. It is a quick read on which group dominates the float, not a signal on its own.
Is this a buy or sell signal?
No. It describes where coins sit and how they have moved between the two groups. Past cycles have shown patterns, for example long-term supply rising through bear markets and short-term supply swelling in bull markets, but those are historical observations and not a guide to what happens next.
How often does the data update?
Daily. The history runs from 2011, one reading per day. You can switch the supply axis and the price axis between a log and a linear scale, and turn any of the three lines on or off from the legend.
Related guides
Others in on-chain — What the blockchain itself says about holders, miners, and what people paid for their coins.
- Supply in Profit / Loss (NUPL)How much of all the Bitcoin out there is sitting on a paper profit, mapped to phases from panic to euphoria.
- MVRV Z-ScoreHow far Bitcoin’s market value sits from the price its coins last moved at, in standard deviations, against the classic value and overheated levels.
- Puell Multiple (Adaptive)The daily value of newly issued coins against its own yearly average, with overheated and value lines that adapt to the last three and a half years.
- NUPL (Adaptive)The share of Bitcoin’s market value that is an unrealized gain, with overheated and value lines that adapt to the last three and a half years.
- Percent Supply in ProfitWhat share of all Bitcoin was last moved at a price below today’s, and what share above it, against the 50 percent crossover.
Every indicator we track — the full glossary.
Open the chart
Everything above is the method. On the chart you get both supplies and the Bitcoin price from 2011 to today, the short-term share of supply, and a log or linear scale for each axis.