Bitcoin price returns to ‘critical’ pivot zone as $33K stays untouched

Bulls are having problems reclaiming lost support levels, but $30,000 remains a solid foundation for Bitcoin’s trading range.

Bitcoin (BTC) failed to crack $33,000 on July 14 as a bounce from multi-day lows delivered only modest progress.

BTC price: Fits and starts below $33,000

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked another day of ranging — albeit with increased volatility — for BTC/USD on Wednesday.

The pair briefly touched $31,750 overnight before a sharp rebound produced highs of $32,970. This meant that $33,000, once firm support, still remained out of reach.

For popular trader Michaël van de Poppe, this zone from $32,600 upwards was “critical to break” in order for Bitcoin to have a chance at hitting targets higher up in its trading range.

“Many altcoins making double bottom tests. Great,” he added in his latest Twitter update.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin circled $32,800 following repeated attempts to crack $33,000. Buy and sell levels on Binance showed support firmly in place at $30,000, with a resistance band at $33,000 nonetheless slowly fading.

Strong hands quietly scoop up liquidity

Expectations were high on the day ahead of a much-publicized “Bitcoin bill” being presented before the government of Paraguay. While information about the legislation has been sketchy, optimists hope that the country will seek to follow El Salvador and make Bitcoin legal tender.

Beyond network fundamentals, there was little else for bulls to leverage at the time of writing, with accumulation by investors big and small yet to show itself in price action.

Related: Great buy? Bitcoin trades at record 59% below stock-to-flow BTC price model target

In fresh analysis, however, William Clemente suggested that there could be a “lag” in price response.

“Vice versa. Price can sometimes lag the accumulation flows. For example in January or September 2020 we had a bull div, not nearly this size though,” he said in Twitter comments.

“Also to note: we had one in March 2020, but macro forces can obviously override this.”

Clemente highlighted a chart of Bitcoin’s liquid supply ratio (LSR), a metric now signalling movement of BTC to those with little history of selling. 

“Nothing has changed, supply shock still in play,” he said, referencing last year’s block subsidy halving.

“LSR shows that the action of Bitcoins being reabsorbed by strong hands only continues to diverge more from price. Exchanges also down -21,829 BTC in the last 2 weeks; clear trend of accumulation in those flows as well.”