Bitcoin (BTC) starts the last full week of July in “wait and see” mode as altcoins steal the spotlight.
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BTC price action continues to consolidate after $123,000 all-time highs, and liquidation levels are making some traders nervous.
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Price targets, even those held for many months, coalesce around $150,000 for the cycle top.
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Fed Chair Powell will take to the stage again this week amid ongoing pressure to resign.
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Bitcoin dominance collapses, sparking announcements that altseason is already here.
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Exchange BTC reserves are increasing as investors rethink further hodling.
BTC correction bets include $114,000 CME gap
Bitcoin saw some classic volatility into the weekly close, with BTC/USD nearing $116,000 before a strong rebound entered.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows multiple “long wick” candles to the downside while sellers failed to sway market sentiment for long.
Currently at around $119,000, Bitcoin is still a favorite among traders despite increasing anticipation of “altseason.”
“$BTC Closed its CME gap straight away after futures opened,” popular trader Daan Crypto Trades observed about the local lows.
“That’s now it’s 6th week in a row where any gap that was created was closed on Monday or really close to it.”
As Cointelegraph reported, BTC price targets hinge on a resistance trend line, which the price is currently attempting to break through.
Continuing, however, fellow trader CrypNuevo warned about another hurdle for bulls on the horizon.
“We’re heading into a quiet week during this strong uptrend, but there’s a warning sign potentially forming on the 1D time frame that we need to be aware of,” he summarized in a thread on X Sunday.
“Wicks to the upside but price not progressing any further: a sign that MM builds shorts.”
CrypNuevo referred to market makers on exchange order books, and eyeing liquidity, warned that new lows were looking increasingly tempting.
“Delta is neutral – no signs of short squeeze or long squeeze,” he explained.
“However, we can notice that the biggest individual liquidation level is at $115.3k. This adds more weight to the downside liquidation cluster shown in the tweet above as a potential pullback.”
Another CME futures gap closer to $114,000 was also of interest.
“If we get confirmation of the signal ‘wicks to the upside but price not progressing any further,’ price will very quickly drop to this zone, hit liquidations and fill the gap,” the thread concluded.
Bitcoin price targets cool on consolidation
Regarding where BTC price action could head next, traders’ expectations are noticeably modest in the short term.
For popular trader BitBull, $130,000 should be the next stopping-off point for BTC/USD, with a long-term top not far beyond.
“$BTC is going through a consolidation phase after a new ATH. This is actually a good thing as alts are rallying during this. But I think BTC another leg up will start within 2-3 weeks,” he told X followers at the weekend.
“This will pump BTC above $130K and will also mark the local top. After that, there’ll be a final leg up in Q4 and BTC will peak above $160,000.”
As Cointelegraph continues to report, other cycle top targets in play for months or longer include analyst Aksel Kibar’s $137,000 and X pundit BitQuant’s $145,000, these now increasingly close.
Earlier this month, fellow trader analyst Rekt Capital suggested that the top could come within just two to three months.
The average July forecast on prediction service Kalshi, meanwhile, sees the crowd favoring $124,000.
Fed’s Powell to speak amid rate-cut gloom
Another quiet week for US macro data keeps markets’ focus on the Federal Reserve and Chair Jerome Powell.
Powell, already under pressure to cut interest rates amid a barrage of personal criticism from US President Donald Trump, will deliver opening remarks at the Integrated Review of the Capital Framework for Large Banks Conference, Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
The Fed Chair has resisted pressure over his hawkish economic stance, which has included calls for him to step down.
Markets whipsawed last week amid rumors that Trump would instead fire Powell, something which the White House then denied.
Ahead of the July 30 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which will decide on whether a rate cut is appropriate, markets show little to no belief that the result will be in risk assets’ favor.
The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool puts the odds of a July cut at under 5%.
“Rising inflation and strong economic data is clouding the outlook for interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve even further,” trading firm…
cointelegraph.com