SOPR Explained: What Spent Output Profit Ratio Reveals

Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR) is an on-chain metric that measures whether coins being moved on a blockchain, at the moment they are spent, are being sold at a profit or a loss relative to the price at which they were last acquired, calculated by dividing the value of a spent output at the time it moves by its value at the time it was created.

Unlike price charts, which only show the current trading price, SOPR looks at actual on-chain settlement behavior — every time a unit of a cryptocurrency moves from one address to another, SOPR compares the price at that moment to the price when that same unit last moved. This gives a real-time read on realized, rather than merely paper, profit and loss.

How SOPR is calculated

For each spent transaction output, SOPR is calculated as the output's value in USD at the time it is spent, divided by its value in USD at the time it was created. A SOPR value above 1 means that, on average, coins moving in that period are being sold at a profit. A value below 1 means coins are moving at a loss. A value of exactly 1 is the breakeven point.

Because a single day includes thousands of transactions of varying sizes and ages, SOPR is typically calculated as an aggregate across all spent outputs in a given period, giving a market-wide snapshot rather than a single trader's outcome.

Why the 1.0 line matters

The level where SOPR equals 1 is considered psychologically significant because it represents the point where the average moving coin is breaking even. In an uptrend, SOPR tends to bounce off the 1.0 line from above — holders are reluctant to sell at a loss, so as prices dip toward their cost basis, selling pressure often eases and buyers absorb the dip, pushing SOPR back above 1. In a downtrend, the same level tends to act as resistance from below, as anyone who returns to breakeven often takes the opportunity to exit, capping rallies.

This behavior — sometimes called "SOPR bounce" support and resistance — is one of the more commonly cited applications of the metric, though like any pattern derived from historical behavior, it is not a guaranteed mechanical rule that holds in every market condition.

SOPR vs NUPL

SOPR and /blog/nupl-net-unrealized-profit-loss-explained are often confused because both relate profit and loss to cost basis, but they measure different things:

Metric	Measures	Basis
SOPR	Realized profit/loss on coins actually moved	Transaction-by-transaction
NUPL	Unrealized profit/loss across the entire supply	Whole market snapshot

SOPR only reflects coins that are actively being spent in a given window, while NUPL reflects every coin in existence, whether it moves or not. A useful way to think about it: NUPL shows the potential profit sitting on the sidelines, while SOPR shows what happens when some of that potential profit is actually locked in through a transaction.

Adjusted SOPR and its purpose

A common refinement, adjusted SOPR, excludes outputs that are less than about one hour old. This filters out short-term transactional noise, such as coins moving between a user's own wallets, exchange-internal shuffling, or fast arbitrage activity, which can otherwise skew the raw metric without reflecting genuine investor behavior. Adjusted SOPR is generally considered a cleaner signal for cycle analysis than raw SOPR.

Limitations of SOPR

Like other on-chain metrics, SOPR reflects an average across the network, not any individual's actual trading outcome. Large, single transactions — such as an exchange consolidating cold storage, or a long-dormant wallet moving after years — can distort the calculation for a given period without reflecting a shift in broader sentiment. It is also less useful for assets with low transaction volume or short price histories, where there isn't enough data to give the readings meaningful context.

SOPR, like /blog/active-addresses-metric-explained and other network activity measures, is best used as one lens among several rather than a standalone trading signal. It says nothing about future price direction on its own — it only describes what already happened, at the moment coins were spent.

Bottom line

SOPR measures whether coins moving on-chain are being sold at a realized profit or loss, with the 1.0 breakeven line often acting as support or resistance in trending markets. It complements metrics like NUPL by looking at what holders actually do when they move coins, rather than the unrealized gains sitting untouched, but it remains a descriptive tool best combined with broader analysis rather than used in isolation.