Bitcoin (BTC) hit a six-month high on Feb. 21 as a recent attempt to flip $25,000 for support failed.
BTC/USD 1 Hour Candlestick Chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
Bitcoin unclear before Wall Street opens
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hit $25,250 on Bitstamp.
A firm rejection of the hourly timeframes then saw the pair return below $24,750 and maintained a range throughout the weekend.
With Wall Street on Feb. 20, Bitcoin faced three days of “off-hours” with lower liquidity and a higher risk of volatile ups and downs.
These have materialized to some degree, with efforts to surpass last week’s highs short-lived, prompting liquidation from both long and short traders, data from Coinglass confirms.
BTC liquidation chart. Source: coin jar
Monitoring resource material indicators continued to track the source of flash volatility, which emerged in the form of whale traders on exchanges attempting to move the market with bulk bid-and-ask liquidity.
“2500 BTC in sell orders piling up on the BTC/USDT pair between $24.8 and $25.3k,” popular trader Daan Crypto Trades continued.
“Could be for three reasons: 1. Actual sell orders. 2. Orders to suppress the price to fill orders before they are drawn or bought later. 3. Orders to lower the price.”
BTC/USDT order book data (Binance). Source: Daan Crypto Trades/ Twitter
Fellow trader Crypto Tony was also cautious on the potential for clearing resistance.
“We’re grinding $25k again here but the question remains, do we stay above this resistance zone or do we deviate and come back down,” is part of a Twitter comment specified.
Analyst: BTC Price Action Reflecting July 2021
In an update to an existing theory, Venturefounder, a contributor at on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, predicted a retest of lower levels before Bitcoin’s bullish move resumes.
Related: Bitcoin faces weekly monthly close with macro bull trend at stake
He relied on market conditions from mid-2021 when BTC/USD hit a “double top” all-time high in April and November respectively.
“$25,000 BTC is very similar to $31,000 in July 2021,” he said argued.
“Bitcoin could go beyond in a ‘fakeout’ but likely to retest lower support before consolidation and return to uptrend.”
Annotated BTC/USD chart. Source: Venturefounder/ Twitter
Venturefounder warned that macroeconomic events could weaken bitcoin and broader crypto – part of a complex set of predictions from crypto sources for the coming year.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.