The bitcoin BTC$70,735.54 market has faced familiar problem since prices rose above $70,000 last week: a sharp rise in profit-taking.

More than $20 million worth of BTC has been sold per hour in profit realization, according to blockchain analytics firm Glassnode.

“Every approach to the $70k–$ 80k band faces thin liquidity and profit-taking pressure, capping the bounce. Another bounce to >$70k range was exhausted by >$20M/Hour profit realization,” Glassnode said on X.

The message is clear: the $70,000–$80,000 band is less a battleground of conviction and more a persistent distribution zone, as has been observed since February.

In other words, rallies above $70,000 are consistently turning into liquidity events. Instead of buyers chasing momentum higher, holders are using strength as an exit window and the result is a market where every uptick is met with an immediate counterweight of supply.

Bitcoin is struggling to build momentum above $70,000. Prices briefly touched nearly $74,000 on Saturday before slipping back below $71,000 at the time of writing, as the breakdown in Islamabad peace talks between the U.S. and Iran pushed oil higher and weighed on U.S. stock futures.

Until that $20 million-per-hour pressure eases, bitcoin’s ceiling isn’t technical, but behavioral.