Bitcoin Investors Await 40% Unrealized Profits.
Entering 2025, the average cost basis is around USD 95,500. Giving Bitcoin buyers a small profit to start the year.
Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The price of bitcoin (BTC) has more than doubled in the past year. However, investors who bought the largest cryptocurrency during 2024, on average, only saw a fraction of that, according to a measure known as the realized price.
The realized price is the average value of all bitcoins calculated at the price when the token last moved on the chain. With a value of around USD 41,000 for BTC since its inception in 2009, while for coins purchased last year around USD 65,901 on December 31, 2024.
Referring to the coindesk report, Sunday (5/1/2025), with the market price closing around USD 93,000, buyers in 2024 on average saw an unrealized profit of around 40 percent.
The process of monitoring the realized price is considered important to understand the overall profit, or loss and cost basis of each participant. This means that bitcoin must fall around 31 percent for investors last year to return to the breakeven price level.
The exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on the US exchange debuted on January 11, quite close to the start of the year. So this is a good estimate of their cost basis.
There is another reason to monitor the level. When the price of bitcoin falls below the 2024 realized price, it tends to mark a local bottom in the price of bitcoin.
It happened once in January 2024, after the ETF launched, and a few times in the middle of the year. Monitoring the 2024 group’s cost basis would be a profitable trading strategy.
As we enter 2025, the average cost basis is around $95,500. That leaves buyers with a small advantage to start the year.
Also, historically, realized prices offer a good level of support for bitcoin in bearish markets and rarely trade below it.
