Recent data from Glassnode showed Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL) reflecting record high levels of their supply at a loss.

However, closer examination of locked supplies, institutional holdings and staking structures revealed that the effective delivery of pressurized liquids is significantly lower than the suggested percentages, particularly for Ether and Solana.

Key takeaways:

• Much of the Ether and SOL held at a loss is illiquid, with over 40% of ETH and over 75% of SOL locked in staking, ETFs or strategic reserves.

• Bitcoin’s supply loss seemed high, but institutional holdings and BTC supply loss significantly reduce its actual liquidity.

Loss items do not reflect the actual liquid supply

Bitcoin currently has 35% of its supply at a loss, a level last seen when BTC was trading near $27,000. However, even without a staking mechanism, Bitcoin’s liquid supply is much lower than the numbers suggest. The most significant statistics are presented below:

• BTC supply in circulation: 19,953,406

• BTC held by public/private companies, ETFs and countries: 3,725,013 BTC

• BTC lost forever (estimates): 3,000,000–3,800,000 BTC. This represents between 15.0% and 19.0% of the total circulating supply.

Collectively, these factors remove approximately 33% of all Bitcoins from liquid circulation. Institutional holdings, especially Treasury ETFs and corporate treasuries, are not sensitive to short-term volatility because they operate on mandates tied to reserves, long-term accumulation, or index tracking. The lost BTC further reduced the supply that can respond to the pressure from the losses.

Etheric numbers required a more nuanced interpretation. While 37% of ETH is currently showing losses, a significant portion of the network’s supply is blocked or held at institutions:

In total, over 40% of all ETH is actually locked in staking, ETFs or long-term institutional reserves. These categories have historically been unresponsive to short-term volatility because institutional products (ETFs, reserve funds) operate under policies that emphasize long-term accumulation rather than discretionary sales. As a result, the actual supply of liquid ETH at loss pressure is much lower than the mentioned 37%.

Solana showed an even sharper divergence. Although 70% of circulating SOLs are at loss, the network has one of the highest rate ratios among the major networks:

• Circulating power SOL: 559 262 268

• SOL placed: 411,395,790.5 SOL (73.6%)

• SOL in ETFs: approximately 1% of circulating supply

This meant that over three-quarters of all SOLs are locked to staking validators or institutional products, neither of which exhibit quick selling behavior. It is worth noting that when SOL fell to $121, supply at a loss narrowed to 80%, a level it had previously reached when the price was close to $20, illustrating the sensitivity of this indicator to rapid price change rather than structural capitulation.

Interestingly, both ETH and SOL’s supply and loss rates tend to drop sharply during uptrends due to enormous staking locks, making such spikes a better reflection of price velocity than panic positioning.

Overall, for all three assets, raw loss percentages overestimate potential selling pressure. Once you factor in locked supply, institutional holdings, and permanently lost coin, the true liquid supply at risk is much more circumscribed.

Related: Bitcoin data points to low of 80,000 dollars as analysts say BTC bulls are back

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.