Breakout or retracement? Where does Bitcoin [BTC] head next

• Bitcoin traders are bidding at lower levels much more than those expecting a quick upward run
• Volatility remains low as BTC struggles to find solid support

With so many factors at play, from macroeconomic conditions to global regulatory changes, Bitcoin [BTC] has opted to stick with consolidation in the last few days. Within this period, the king coin managed to fall below $28,000.

At some point, it maintained its value above the region like it was at press time. But will it continue its recent breakout and surge to new heights, or is a retracement on the horizon?

Read Bitcoin’s [BTC] Price Prediction 2023-2024

If the shorts have it, then the longs…

Well, traders seem divided in their foresight of the price action. According to crypto market data provider, Material Indicators, there asked liquidity flowing into the $29,000 to $30,000.

This means that a number of traders expected the lowest price sellers would accept for BTC was around the aforementioned region.

Conversely, Material Indicators also showed that there were bids falling toward $27,600. This implied that those in this position projected the highest buying price to be within the zone.

#FireCharts shows #BTC ask liquidity from the $29k-$30k range laddering down into the active #trading range. Meanwhile new bids appear to be trying to maintain support around $27.6k and hold the range for another attempt at $30k.

We still don't have a confirmed breakout or… pic.twitter.com/b4enLIocKc

— Material Indicators (@MI_Algos) April 3, 2023

Interestingly, the spread between the longs and shorts was extremely close according to data acquired from Coinglass. Although shorts had the most open positions, the BTC long/short ratio was 1.01.

This signified that market participants were slightly bullish about the price. Still, the closeness reflected that investors were skeptical about long and short sales.

Michaël van de Poppe, Bitcoin trader and CEO at Eight Global gave his projection of the BTC next stop. According to him, the coin price pushing above $27,900 could be its catalyst to hit $30,000.

The low has swept on #Bitcoin.

Grinding back upwards, as long as $27,900 holds, I'll be expecting continuation towards range high and potentially $30K. pic.twitter.com/dY89M95LLF

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) April 4, 2023

Stuck in between the green and red?

So it seems. This sentiment was also shared by StockMoneyLizards in a 2 April tweet. But what does the technical outlook think about these viewpoints?

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Based on the four-hour chart, BTC has been swinging between support and resistance since 1 April. Hence, this could make it challenging for traders to pinpoint a specific pattern to follow.

But with contracting volatility as shown by the Bollinger Bands (BB), the price action might be easy to detect if it manages to maintain the same level. However, the BTC price looked to be heading toward hitting the upper band. If it achieves this price level, then it would be an overbought signal at $28,660. 

And the price could end up leaving the $30,000 target to reach for another attempt. As for its momentum, the Awesome Oscillator (AO) remained below equilibrium at -212.02. This indicated a possible bearish momentum, thus putting sellers in a position of control.

Source: TradingView