Ethereum's 3x Profit Supply Never Broke 30% This Cycle, Glassnode Data Show

Glassnode data show that the share of $ETH supply sitting on a gain of more than 300% peaked below 30% this cycle — a threshold the previous two bull markets both cleared on their way past 50%. The current reading stands at 11%, a level not seen since February 2017 and worse than anything recorded in either the 2019 or 2022 bear markets. The gap is not just a story about the recent drawdown; it reflects a structurally shallower markup across the entire cycle.

A Bull Run That Never Matched Prior Cycles on Profitability

The metric Glassnode tracks is the share of circulating ETH supply that has appreciated more than 3x from its cost basis. At 11%, just over a tenth of supply qualifies today. For context, both the 2019 bear market and the 2022 crash held this figure higher than it sits right now. The analytics firm put it plainly: ETH's profitability profile has fundamentally compressed relative to prior cycles.

The bull-market comparison is the sharper data point. In the two preceding cycles, the 3x-profit supply climbed past 50% at peak. This cycle, the metric never crossed 30%. That's not a violent crash erasing generational gains — it's evidence that those gains were structurally shallower from the outset.

Short-Term Holders Underwater as MVRV Hits Negative Territory

A separate data set from Santiment shows where monthly buyers stand after the recent sell-off. The firm's 30-day MVRV Ratio — which tracks the profit-loss status of buyers over the past month — sits at -12% for ETH and -10% for BTC. Ethereum fell near $1,500 during the weekend before bouncing to around $1,680, leaving recent entrants still in the red.

Santiment's interpretation: when the average trader is sitting on significant losses across networks that typically hover near breakeven, selling pressure can exhaust itself as weaker holders exit and longer-term buyers step in. That framing describes a potential dynamic, not a floor.

What the 11% Reading Actually Implies

The low 3x-profit supply figure captures something beyond current losses. It signals how few holders accumulated at prices low enough to be sitting on a significant gain at any point this cycle. That matters for gauging whether the cohort of seasoned profit-takers — the ones who typically supply overhead resistance on the way up — ever formed at meaningful scale. By Glassnode's numbers, they largely did not.