From Keith’s “manipulation” to a lack of mainstream interest, Bitcoin’s price has been in serious trouble since its 40% rally.
Bitcoin
BTC
decreases
$20,370
It’s up 42% since the start of 2023, but in the short term it may now be in favor of the bears.
The latest data paints a troubled picture for BTC prices – investors are hungry but unwilling to buy mainstream.
After a 40% rally in January, BTC/USD is struggling to reach higher resistance on the chart.
Cointelegraph reported that the pair spent February consolidating its previous gains, making it the most volatile month on record.
Judging by the current moves, this period of consolidation may end soon, but not in favor of the bulls.
Cointelegraph highlights three issues that Bitcoin may remain a thorn in the side of the current bull run.
Bitcoin hodlers seem greedy
Bitcoin and altcoins started to trend higher at the beginning of the year, although the mood of the crypto market was unpredictable.
By the middle of the month, the mood had completely changed from the 2022 quarter – monitoring tools quickly showed it.
With BTC/USD taking and holding $20,000, disbelief is confident that the return to the “high” form will soon continue – even as the pair faces major resistance around $25,000, which remains unbeaten.
Crypto sentiment is highly volatile, and even a simple trend change can change the overall climate as investors become irrational – both bullish and bearish.
According to the Crypto Fear and Greed Index, this process will repeat itself this year. A classic sentiment indicator that uses a basket of factors to deliver a normalized sentiment score for a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin recently peaked in November 2021.
This has implications: the higher the score, the more irrational the market is and needs to be corrected.
Fear and Greed spent most of 2022 in the irrational “extreme fear” zone, once a rare 6/100. Fast forward to Q1 2023, and that figure is 10 times higher, indicating irrational “greed” as a market force.
Currently, the index stands at 51/100, which is called “neutral”.
Major FOMO is nowhere to be seen
If existing hodlers want it well enough to continue outside the crypto space, the circumstances are quite different.
According to the latest data from Google Trends, nobody wants to know about Bitcoin these days.
Compared to the past five years, interest in the term “Bitcoin” is near its lowest level since mid-2020.
The price may be high, but for users with a basic interest, Bitcoin currently does not represent a reason for “FOMO” or even a topic worth investigating.
While previous bull markets were characterized by new buyers’ inflows, BTC price action has to go before it repeats historical patterns.
Whales control the bull
Turning to the short-term price charts, a cloud is hanging over the bulls in preparation.
Related: Bitcoin ‘Millionaires’ Rise 140% As BTC Price Passes $20K – Info
This comes in the form of a concerted effort by large-cap fund traders to manipulate spot prices to serve their own goals – making a clean break with the long-term bearish trend.
Cointelegraph continues to cover these whale liquidity zones, which are resource tracking material indicators called “Recognized B.I.” is called
Its owners have a habit of turning it around, and its price movement is more closely aligned with its position in Binance’s order book – a “manipulation” classification.
“Don’t be surprised if part or all of the supply wall moves as BTC nears $23.1k,” Material Indicators wrote in one of its latest Twitter updates, along with a chart showing recent liquidity movements.
