The US-driven bid that fueled Bitcoin's April rally is losing momentum. The Coinbase Premium, which measures the difference between Bitcoin's price on Coinbase and offshore exchanges, has turned negative for the first time since early April, according to CryptoQuant data. This metric had been consistently positive from April 8 to April 22, during which time Bitcoin's price rose from $66,000 to a local high of nearly $78,000. The premium peaked around April 22 and has been declining since.
As Coinbase is often used as a proxy for US institutional and dollar-denominated flows, a sustained negative reading suggests that American investors are now paying less than the rest of the world, indicating either more aggressive selling or a lack of buying interest. On-chain data supports this narrative, with the 7-day sum of Bitcoin Realized Loss reaching $5.97 billion on April 24, as Bitcoin traded near $78,000. This means that sellers were likely buyers who entered the market at higher prices, between $80,000 and $95,000, during late 2025 and early 2026, and are now using the April bounce as an exit opportunity rather than a reentry point.
The combination of these two datasets indicates that US institutional buyers are slowing their pace on Coinbase, while holders are increasing their selling activity. Bitcoin was recently trading around $76,000. Going forward, traders will be watching to see if the Realized Loss metric continues to decline as the underwater supply is worked through, with the reading already decreasing from its April 24 peak to $4.7 billion by April 28, suggesting that the seller cohort is dwindling.