Bitcoin (BTC) ranged around the key $26,800 mark for a second day on Oct. 13 with a decision due in United States regulators’ battle with crypto investment giant Grayscale.
Bitcoin lurks between major liquidity clouds
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed BTC price barely changed from the day prior, acting in a narrow corridor.
Bitcoin market analysts weighed potential catalysts, among these the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC) choosing whether or not to appeal a court ruling over its refusal to allow a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF).
“Today is an important day with the SEC Appeal on the Grayscale ruling,” Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of MN Trading, wrote in part of an X post.
“If nothing happens, we might be seeing a case where Bitcoin reverses upwards in the coming weeks. I’m positioned long.”
Macro data prints were due to take a break, following a series of releases through the week, which all showed inflation more persistent than market expectations had predicted.
Summarizing possible BTC price trajectory from here, popular trader and analyst Credible Crypto saw cause for modest optimism.
“We have a very clear and seemingly controlled ‘stairstep’ down on price here. Clear low timeframe breakdowns, retests, and continuation,” he explained alongside a chart.
“We are leaving behind equal lows right below us, so ideally I’d like to see these cleaned up before a reversal. Considering we have bids stacked above and below us, a push to the local highs into asks followed by a rejection and sweep of our lows into the waiting bids and local demand seems like the perfect way to form a reversal here. Let’s see how things develop.”
Fellow trader Daan Crypto Trades noted BTC/USD moving within a zone between two liquidity clouds, with a reaction more likely should spot price reach either one.
#Bitcoin Liquidation Map
Big zones at $26.5K & $27K. Would expect some sort of ssqueeze to occur at those areas. pic.twitter.com/VW6YYPkMe4
— Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) October 13, 2023
Trader and analyst Rekt Capital meanwhile placed a target of $25,000 on Bitcoin should bulls fail to reclaim exponential moving averages (EMAs) lost through the week.
Needs to reclaim at least one of these EMAs as support to avoid a drop into the $25k-$26k area$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/ywRkdM07uw
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) October 12, 2023
GBTC claws back more lost ground
Ahead of the appeal deadline, Grayscale’s flagship investment fund, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), continued to outperform.
Related: Did SBF really use FTX traders’ Bitcoin to keep BTC price under $20K?
The focus of the legal proceedings, GBTC will end up as a spot ETF, Grayscale has said, with an early victory for the firm seeing its fortunes turn around through Q2.
On Oct. 11, GBTC hit its smallest discount to net asset value — the Bitcoin spot price — since December 2021.
The discount, technically a negative premium, reached -16.44% before dipping slightly lower, per data from monitoring resource CoinGlass.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.