Bitcoin (BTC) Price Refuses to Budge From a Narrow Range as Traders Consider the Likely Breakout Direction

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research

Bitcoin (BTC) traders remained in a holding pattern at the May 16 Wall Street open as consolidation sparked both bullish and bearish forecasts.

Bitcoin keeps traders guessing as consolidation continues

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD trading in a familiar $103,000

Despite beating expectations, the latest US macroeconomic data in the form of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) prints on May 13 and 15, respectively, failed to exert a strong influence on short-term price behavior.

Instead, traders remained keenly focused on Bitcoin’s latest consolidation phase less than 10% away from new all-time highs.

“$BTC Has been doing roughly the same thing since the April lows. Move up, tight consolidation, new leg up,” popular trader Daan Crypto Trades wrote in part of ongoing X analysis.

A separate post noted areas of thick liquidity on either side of the price, potentially providing near-term targets should BTC/USD exit its narrow range.

Another popular trader, Crypto Caesar, suggested that a range breakout could run deeper and take Bitcoin further below the $100,000 mark.

“If price breaks and holds above this zone, we could see new crazy highs,” he told X followers, referencing a bullish crossover on the weekly moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) indicator.

Like Daan Crypto Trades, analyst Kevin Svenson was keen to see a continuation of the stop-start rebound in place since April.

Analyzing 4-hour timeframes on the day, he delivered his next upside BTC/USD target well inside price discovery.

“So far, the measured move extrapolations of each leg up in this run have been pinpoint accurate,” he wrote.

Earlier, Cointelegraph reported on a variety of BTC price predictions now in force, with commentators overwhelmingly favoring upside next.

Zooming out, $1 million per coin may become reality in three years’ time or even sooner, according to former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes.