Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a significant drop below $60,000 on June 24, marking the first time in seven weeks that the price has fallen to this level. Analysts attribute this decline to “whale games,” where large investors manipulate the market for their own benefit.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView revealed that BTC hit a local low of $59,809 on Bitstamp after the opening of Wall Street. The weakness in Bitcoin’s price started after the weekly close and continued throughout the Asian and Wall Street trading sessions, resulting in a 5% loss for BTC/USD.
Material Indicators, a trading resource, observed a familiar pattern unfolding in the exchange order books. They warned that whales were manipulating liquidity to influence price momentum. Their analysis showed that the Bitcoin order book had very little ask liquidity in the near range, making it easy for the price to be pushed up.
The accompanying chart displayed liquidity clusters for the BTC/USDT pair on Binance, the largest global exchange. Material Indicators also noted that whales were engaging in “spoofing” tactics to deceive other traders, a similar strategy that was observed the previous week.
CoinGlass, a monitoring resource, revealed the extent of losses suffered by BTC long positions due to the drop below $60,000. The liquidations of long positions in the 24-hour period amounted to over $136.5 million, contributing to a total of $265 million in crypto liquidations.
Some analysts compared the current pullback to previous ones since the beginning of the latest Bitcoin bull market in 2023. Scott Melker, a trader, analyst, and podcast host known as the “Wolf of All Streets,” found optimism in Bitcoin’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) reaching a ten-month low on daily timeframes. He believes this could indicate a local price bottom.
The RSI is a tool used by traders to identify oversold conditions, with values below 30 suggesting potential buying opportunities. At the time of writing, the daily RSI for Bitcoin measured 26.7.
Another popular trader and analyst, Rekt Capital, acknowledged that the recent drop in Bitcoin’s price was relatively shallow compared to previous retracements. He calculated that the average retracement depth for all pullbacks since the Bear Market Bottom of 2022 was -22%.
It is important to note that this article does not provide investment advice or recommendations. Readers should conduct their own research and consider the risks involved before making any investment or trading decisions.