Bitcoin’s rangebound trading carries on as bears defend $77,000 and bulls hold out near $74,000.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) consolidation continued into a fourth week, with the price finding support at $74,000 and resistance in the $78,000 to $80,000 range. According to Hyblock analysts, the intra-day rally to $78,164 hit a pocket where “longs that had previously opened up (that are in a position) were underwater and likely exited here at breakeven.”

BTC/USDT net positions heatmap. Source: Hyblock

“And shorts who were in profit, likely exited here at “breakeven” to prevent any loss. Hence “psychological” level.”

Regarding the liquidations that occurred during the intra-day price move and how liquidity currently functions as a magnet for BTC price, Hyblock identified two clusters. “The brightest clusters (where a lot of potential liquidity lies) and where liquidity is building up the fastest and most recently (i.e., $75,675 to $75,700.)”

BTC/USDT liquidation heatmap. Source: Hyblock

Related: Bitcoin price lags bullish US tech stocks: Is there a silver lining?a

Despite Bitcoin’s inability to hold above $78,000, Blockstream CEO Adam Back posted about a Bitcoin whale using a time-weighted average price (TWAP) method to “hoover” up 450 “cheap Bitcoins” per day for the last 8.5 eight and a half days.

Bitfinex Bitcoin whale TWAP data. Source: Adam Back / X

As shown in the chart below, the price action of the day represents the classic futures-led selloff where selling via derivatives is putting pressure on BTC price, but buyers in the spot market are absorbing a portion of the selling. This effectively softens the blows delivered by sellers and reinforces Bitcoin’s $74,000 support.

Currently, orderbook depth data (2.5% to 5% depth) shows sellers present from $77,700, and the asks thicken from $78,000 to $80,000, suggesting Bitcoin will continue to encounter resistance in this price range.

BTC/USDT spot and perps cumulative volume delta. Source: TRDR.io

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/markets/bitcoin-drops-after-78k-pop-but-value-investor-keeps-hoovering-up-cheap-btc?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound