Bitcoin dives below $33K to fill futures gap amid record BTC ‘hodling’

Bitcoin (BTC) set new multi-month lows on Jan. 24 as the new week began with some classic price behavior.

BTC/USD 1-minute candle chart (Binance). Source: TradingView

“Rangeplay” for BTC after CME gap fill

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD dipping to $32,967 on Bitstamp prior to the Wall Street open Monday.

That level represented the start of a CME futures gap left over from July 2021, Bitcoin “filling” it almost to the dollar before reversing upwards to add over $1,000 in minutes.

With volatility clearly in the air, expectations were running high for the start of trading on United States equities markets.

Weekends are scams. (Low volume markets)

— Adam Back (@adam3us) January 23, 2022

“Now, Bitcoin will fight $34.1-34.4K. If that reclaims, potential test at $38K possible,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe summarized to Twitter followers, noting the CME gap closure.

“Rangeplay at this point.”

At the time of writing, BTC/USD traded just below $34,000, with aroud an hour and a hal until the U.S. open.

Zooming out, investor behavior meanwhile appeared to counter concerns over short-term sellers. As noted by investor and entrepreneur Alistair Milne, the proportion of the Bitcoin supply that has remained stationary for a year or more hit levels not seen during previous capitulation events.

The % of #Bitcoin unmoved for 12 months or more just hit 60%
... which is higher than after the March 2020 COVID crash
... higher than at the end of the 2015/16 bear market
... higher than at the end of the 2018/19 bear market

/end transmission

— Alistair Milne (@alistairmilne) January 24, 2022

Even beating the 2018 bear market bottom, when Bitcoin reached $3,100 after a drawdown of over 80%, current resolve among long-term investors was thus palpable.

HODL Waves data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode confirmed the presence of active hodlers.

Bitcoin HODL Waves chart (screenshot). Source: Unchained Capital

Ether attracts $1,800 bid target

The situation looked bleaker for major altcoins on the day, as Ether (ETH) shed almost 11% to near $2,000.

Related: Bitcoin ‘enters value zone’ as BTC price floor metric goes green again

The largest altcoin by market cap was not alone in its precipitous fall, the top 10 led by Solana (SOL), down almost 18% at the time of writing. 

For popular trader and analyst Pentoshi, bid levels to watch now lay below $2,000 support — more than 60% under recent all-time highs

"$ETHto me is a great buy at $1800 and I still believe in time we get there," he said Sunday, adding a SOL/USD target of $40 as a "fair target."

ETH/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView.

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