Bitcoin transactions are cheap again, but miners are paying the price

Cheap transfers for Bitcoin users raise new concerns about miner profitability.

Bitcoin (BTC) appears to be struggling to hold $88,000 as it saw a 2% decline on Tuesday. Against the backdrop of dismal price action, new data suggests that fewer people are currently using the Bitcoin blockchain.

Alphractal founder and CEO Joao Wedson said that “this is not a good sign.”

Red flags for miners

According to analysis from Alpharactal, Bitcoin’s total transaction fees have fallen to the lowest level since January 2011. The decline is mainly due to the low volume of Bitcoin currently being transferred over the blockchain.

While this situation benefits users by keeping transaction fees very low, it poses challenges for Bitcoin miners as lower fees reduce their financial incentives. This could force some to sell their BTC shares to cover costs. Alphractal too said that the Fee-to-Price ratio has stabilized, meaning that sending transactions on the network remains extremely cheap at current BTC prices.

Meanwhile, new on-chain data from CryptoQuant further pointed to early signs of renewed selling pressure from miners, especially on Binance. The miners flow to exchange data shows several positive peaks on December 11, 17, and 19, which occurred while Bitcoin was near its current price level.

This metric measures the net value of Bitcoin transferred from miners’ wallets to Binance. Positive numbers indicate that miners are depositing more BTC than they are withdrawing. Such behavior is often associated with preparing to sell. Since this cohort is the main source of newly issued BTC, its activity can have a significant impact on short-term market movements.

CryptoQuant noted that the last similar increase in miner deposits occurred in mid-November, shortly before Bitcoin fell from above $103,000. While the latest data doesn’t mean a sharp correction is inevitable, it does point to a known pattern in which larger deposits from miners at high prices could limit upward momentum.

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Previous examples show that periods of strong miner inflows onto the exchanges have created a headwind for further price increases, especially during consolidation phases.

A bigger downside is still coming in 2026

On the price side, crypto analyst Wall Street says even though most market watchers remain bearish on the medium and long term. said Bitcoin is showing bullish conditions in the short term due to limited downside liquidity. According to the analyst, this lack of selling pressure makes an immediate decline unlikely. He explained that he had placed long positions in the $80,000 to $84,000 range and expects a rebound.

Bitcoin later retested support near $84,000, which aligns with the 100-week moving average, leading to its long entry at $84,550. Mr. Wall Street stated that he plans to close the position in the $98,000 to $104,000 range, where liquidity and a fair value differential are present.

Despite this short-term outlook, the analyst went on to say that he remains bearish overall and expects BTC to decline later. He revised his downside target to a range of $64,000-$70,000, which he expects to reach in late Q1 or early Q2 of 2026.