Bitcoin (BTC) continues to frustrate investors with its tight range consolidation, giving no clue about the possible direction of the breakout. Typically, the longer the range, the stronger the eventual breakout from it. Therefore, traders should be on their toes to latch on to the breakout when it happens. 

A minor positive in favor of the bulls is that they are holding on to a large part of the gains seen in 2023. That indicates a lack of urgency among the bulls to book profits as they anticipate the uptrend to resume.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted that 15 of the best performing equity exchange-traded funds in 2023 have been crypto-related with exposure to crypto and blockchain.

Do Bitcoin and the select altcoins show any signs of a potential breakout from their respective ranges? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Bitcoin price analysis

The bulls pushed Bitcoin above the 50-day simple moving average ($29,960) on Aug. 8 and 9 but could not sustain the higher levels. This suggests that the bears are selling on rallies.