With Bitcoin price flipping back into the green in October, it is targeting a major resistance rematch this week.
- Last week’s decline below $60,000 looks more and more like an aberration as traders eye a resistance reversal at $65,000.
- Slowly but surely Bitcoin is advancing within a long period of consolidation and analysis shows that we are confident that buyer power will increase.
- Earnings season kicks off this week as markets lower expectations for interest rate cuts and the U.S. presidential election approaches.
- Retail interest is still barely perceptible in this cycle, diverging from historical trends.
- ETF investors are also cautious, with mixed trends over the past week pointing to broader market indecision.
BTC Price Sets Stage for $65K Showdown
Bitcoin (BTC) broke its October high, hitting $64,800 during the Asian trading session on October 14.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that BTC price performance has sparked a daily gain of 2.8%, with BTC/USD currently up 1.2% on a monthly basis.
Although still far from its traditional gains in October, Bitcoin has given market participants reason to be optimistic.
Trader Crypto Tony told his followers on
Various voices have called for a retest of the $65,000 resistance on the lower period, which serves as a key battleground within Bitcoin’s ongoing consolidation zone.
Fellow trader Crypto Ed, founder of trading platform CryptoTA, used Elliott Wave theory to suggest that last week’s drop below $59,000 has now been written off.
“The most recent rise (slightly above B) invalidates last week’s $57,000 rise scenario,” he explained.
“It was close, but C’s move was cut and done. “I look forward to the $65,000 retest soon.”
As Cointelegraph reported, the post-weekly action resulted in the liquidation of approximately $100 million worth of cross-cryptocurrency short positions.
At the time of this writing, total liquidation amounts to more than $180 million, according to the latest data from monitoring resource CoinGlass.
Slowly but surely Bitcoin resistance weakens
In a consolidation phase that has now lasted nearly eight months, it is a matter of “one step at a time” for Bitcoin to bounce back to test its all-time highs.
Rekt Capital, a trader and analyst looking at the longer-term picture, highlighted the highest daily close of around $64,300 reached in August as the next major hurdle for the bulls.
He noted that that level has been weakening into resistance since then.
“In the past, August highs have led to a -18% retracement,” he wrote in a post dedicated to X on October 14.
“Whereas two weeks ago it only triggered a -8.5% decline..”
Rekt Capital added that there is now a “good opportunity” for price action to completely clear August resistance and continue towards the next area of interest at $66,000.
This currently corresponds to the top of the downward trending channel since March.
“Bitcoin is now challenging the August highs again and is likely to break them. A move above the August high could lead to a move to the top of the bearish channel (red box),” he commented along with an example chart.
Another post highlighted that the 21-week exponential moving average (EMA) continues to act as support in its second week.
Joo Ki-young, CEO of CryptoQuant, an on-chain analytics platform, went on to say that the downtrend is about to take a step back, seeing the potential for buyers to seize the market and overcome resistance.
“Bitcoin purchase barriers on all exchanges are now strong enough to neutralize sell barriers,” he announced.
Fed rate cut bets enter earnings season
After last week’s slew of US macro data prints, jobless claims and earnings season is now in focus as election week approaches.
The jobs data helped create a particularly troubling situation for the Federal Reserve, which is currently dealing with both rising unemployment and inflation indicators.
“Now the Fed, elections, geopolitical tensions and earnings are in the spotlight,” said trading resource The Kobeissi Letter, summarizing some of its recent X analysis.
About 10% of S&P 500 companies are scheduled to report earnings this week.
The latest estimates from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool highlight changes in market expectations about how the Federal Reserve will handle its interest rate review scheduled for November 7.
The event, which comes just days after the US presidential election, has gone from offering a further 0.5% interest rate cut to potentially no cut at all.
“We are starting to see signs of inflation reaccelerating again,” Kobeissi continued.
“Core CPI inflation rose sharply last week for the first time since March 2023. “The Fed is playing a risky game with a 50bps rate cut.”
Nonetheless, US stocks were on the rise last week. Both S&P and Dow Jones hit record highs, while gold trading remained within 1% of its own highs.
Bitcoin rebounded into first Asian trading session after initial signal. It fell to $58,860, the lowest since mid-September.
Bitcoin Retail Interest Is “More Choppy” This Cycle
While there has been a noticeable drop in retail participation since Bitcoin hit record highs last March, new data suggests a “subtle” recovery.
In one of the latest Quicktake blog posts on October 14th, CryptoQuant focused specifically on Plankton, a group of BTC investors.
“Since BTC began to surge in early 2024, there has been a lot of debate about whether retail investors and new investors have re-entered the market. But the answer is subtle. By analyzing specific data, we can get a clearer picture,” summarized contributor Binh Dang.
Binh analyzed changes in the number of wallets on a yearly basis, showing a sharp contrast to previous bull markets. Prior to the March peak, Plankton was purchased in small denominations of up to 0.1 BTC, featuring it.
The sell-off followed and this trend remained, even as Bitcoin moved closer and closer to previous levels.
“The increase in these group addresses in the current cycle suggests that retail engagement is real,” the post said.
“However, growth is weak and uneven compared to previous cycles, especially during market rallies. This is understandable, given the general decline in global money flows over the past three years. So the data suggests that a future FOMO wave is still possible in this cycle.”
Nonetheless, Binh concluded that a “final wave” of interest should occur during the current BTC price cycle.
Last week, Cointelegraph reported on the mixed signals provided by Bitcoin whales, with the largest class accumulating and others joining retail to reduce their BTC exposure.
ETF flows highlight market nerves
A similar story emerges when observing flows in and out of U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
relevant: BTC price is eyeing a hurdle below $65,000, with indicators suggesting Bitcoin is about to ‘rip’.
As Cointelegraph reported, three out of five trading days for U.S. commodities last week saw net outflows.
The largest of these was just over $80 million on October 10, with net inflows of more than $250 million the following day, according to data from sources including UK-based investment firm Farside Investors.
The mixed results correspond to an equally uncertain trading environment resulting from the US macro data dilemma.
As Bitcoindata21 notes, there is still a distinct lack of retail involvement.
“Retail inflows into U.S. Bitcoin ETFs are still very low,” he told X followers on October 13.
“We don’t know yet if they’ll come back above 74k.”
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading activities involve risk and readers should conduct their own research when making any decisions.