Bitcoin Battles Its Latest Key Reclaim Target With $80,000 on the Radar

Bitcoin open interest sparked a prediction of high BTC price volatility to come as $70,000 remained the bulls’ key reclaim level.

Bitcoin (BTC) waited for cues on Wednesday as the market priced in geopolitical instability.

Key points:

Bitcoin traders are waiting for the end of rangebound price action, with the focus on $70,000.
An optimistic forecast says that the low $80,000 zone could come back into play by the end of March.
Open interest trends suggest heightened BTC price volatility next.

Bitcoin struggles to cement key springboard level

Data from TradingView showed a flat BTC price on the day, with trading centered around $70,000.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

After failing to break out of its local trading range, BTC/USD looked increasingly devoid of bullish cues as traders stayed wary of price breakdowns.

“Not much has changed, price is still consolidating inside the range,” trader Cryptorphic told X followers in their latest analysis.

“The weekly candle closed bearish, and overall the structure still leans sideways unless we get a clear breakout or breakdown.”

*BTC/USDT one-day chart. Source: Cryptorphic/X*

Trader Killa flagged areas of high potential liquidations as the next short-term price targets.

“If we start pushing down toward the monthly open and weekly open around $66K–$66.9K, there’s a strong likelihood that the $64K liquidity pool gets swept,” they explained on the day.

“If we start pushing above 72-73K, the next POI is 74-76K.”

*BTC liquidation heatmap. Source: Killa/X*

For trader and analyst Mark Cullen, meanwhile, there was reason to hope for a move higher if bulls could cement $70,000 as support.

“70K is critical, $BTC needs to get back above and hold for another attempt at a range break out. If it can do that then high 70K’s / low 80K’s will be on the cards before the end of the month,” he summarized.

*BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Mark Cullen/X*

BTC price may see “highly volatile environment”

Earlier, Cointelegraph reported that significant resistance is expected to halt any BTC price advances beyond the $70,000 mark.

Many market participants continue to expect new macro lows to result from the current rangebound structure, with these currently as low as $50,000 or less.

Examining open interest (OI) on Bitcoin futures markets, BorisD, a contributor at onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, warned of ongoing volatility to come.

“Looking at the most recent days, the 30-day Open Interest change has entered a strong recovery phase. This suggests that new positions are being added back into the market and that volatility is likely to increase over the next few weeks,” he wrote in a “Quicktake” blog post on Tuesday.

“In the coming weeks, Bitcoin may face a highly volatile environment. As Open Interest continues to rise, leverage in the market also builds up. This can open the door to stronger price swings, sudden directional moves, and another round of forced liquidations.”