Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR)

What is SOPR?

The Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR) measures whether coins that moved on-chain during a given period were, in aggregate, moved at a profit or a loss relative to the price each coin was worth when it was last acquired. It's calculated from actual on-chain spending activity, not the full outstanding supply.

What it measures

SOPR measures the aggregate realized profit or loss ratio across coins that actually moved on-chain during a period — a flow-based metric (what's moving right now) rather than a stock-based one (the full outstanding supply, which is what Realized Cap and MVRV measure instead).

Formula

SOPR = Realized Value ÷ Value at Creation, aggregated across all outputs spent during the period — where Realized Value is the USD value of a spent output at the time it was spent, and Value at Creation is the USD value that same output was worth when it was originally created (the price at the time it was last acquired).

Inputs

• Every transaction output spent during the period, with its own creation timestamp and spend timestamp.
• The USD price at both the creation time and the spend time for each such output.

How it's calculated

For every output spent in the period, its value at the time of spending is divided by its value at the time it was created, and these are aggregated (typically as a ratio of total spent-value to total creation-value across all outputs, rather than a simple average of individual ratios) into a single SOPR figure for that period.

How to read the indicator

SOPR above 1 means coins spent during the period were, in aggregate, moved at a profit relative to their acquisition price. SOPR below 1 means they were moved at a loss, in aggregate. SOPR equal to 1 — a level some on-chain analysts treat as a notable reference point — means coins moved roughly at breakeven on average.

What higher values can mean

• Coins moving on-chain are, in aggregate, being spent at a meaningful realized profit.
• In rising-market conditions, SOPR repeatedly bouncing off a level near 1 from above has sometimes been read by on-chain analysts as support-like behavior, where holders appear reluctant to sell at a loss — a pattern observation, not a mechanical rule.

What lower values can mean

• Coins moving on-chain are, in aggregate, being spent at a realized loss — sometimes read as a sign of capitulation-type selling.
• A sustained period of sub-1 SOPR readings has, in past cycles, coincided with broader market downturns, though this is a backward-looking pattern, not a forecasting tool.

Adjusted SOPR

Adjusted SOPR is a commonly used variant that excludes outputs younger than roughly one hour from the calculation, specifically to filter out short-term, often exchange-internal or technical movements that aren't representative of genuine holder decisions to realize a gain or loss.

How it's used in crypto

SOPR was developed specifically as a crypto-native, on-chain profit/loss metric, filling a gap no traditional market metric addresses directly: a real-time, transparent read on whether coins actually changing hands are doing so at a gain or a loss, built entirely from public blockchain data.

When it applies to other financial markets

SOPR, as defined here, is specific to transparent, traceable blockchain networks, since it depends on being able to observe both when a specific unit of the asset was acquired and when it was later spent — ownership and transaction data that isn't publicly observable for traditional securities.

Example

If, across all outputs spent on a given day, their total value at the time of spending was $1.05 billion, and their total value at the time they were originally created was $1 billion, the day's SOPR is 1.05 ($1.05B ÷ $1B) — coins moved that day were, in aggregate, sold at roughly a 5% realized profit.

Strengths

• Built entirely from transparent, publicly verifiable on-chain transaction data.
• A genuinely real-time, flow-based complement to stock-based metrics like MVRV.

Limitations

• Raw SOPR can be distorted by short-term, non-economically-meaningful movements (like exchange-internal transfers), which Adjusted SOPR specifically exists to filter out.
• An aggregate figure across all spent outputs in the period — it doesn't show the distribution of individual outcomes, only the net effect.
• Like MVRV, historical SOPR threshold behavior describes past cycles and is not a guaranteed, repeatable pattern.

Common misinterpretations

• Using raw (unadjusted) SOPR and attributing noise from short-term technical transfers to genuine holder sentiment.
• Treating a single day's SOPR reading as decisive, rather than looking at the trend over a meaningful window.

How it relates to other indicators

SOPR shares its core "price now vs. price when acquired" logic with Realized Cap and MVRV, but applies it to actively spent outputs (a flow) rather than the entire outstanding supply (a stock) — the three metrics are commonly read together as a fuller on-chain profit/loss picture than any one alone provides.

How traders/investors combine it with other information

SOPR (typically the adjusted variant) is commonly read alongside MVRV and exchange-flow data, as part of a broader on-chain analysis rather than a standalone signal, given the same backward-looking-pattern caveats that apply to any historically-derived on-chain threshold.

Key takeaway

SOPR measures whether coins actually moving on-chain are, in aggregate, realizing a profit or a loss relative to their acquisition price — a genuinely crypto-native, flow-based on-chain metric, most reliably read in its adjusted form and in combination with other on-chain data, not as a standalone signal.