Bitcoin (BTC) fought to regain lost ground at the April 19 Wall Street open as traders called for calm on the day’s downside.

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

“Unusual” spot sell triggers BTC price suspicion

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView monitored BTC/USD as it crawled toward $29,500 on Bitstamp.

The pair had shed $1,000 in minutes earlier on the day as over $200 million in long liquidations accompanied a return below $30,000.

Reactions subsequently linked the price action, which originated in a 16,000-BTC market sell on Binance, to a potential forthcoming news event, this ultimately failing to materialize at the time of writing.

Market participants thus remained level-headed, arguing that important support levels were still present amid a healthy retracement.

“A move to 28k is normal/healthy,” popular trader Credible Crypto wrote in part of Twitter commentary.

Fellow trader Crypto Tony was more cautious, hinting that he expected further downside to ensue next.

“Got a feeling many longing now are going to regret it on Bitcoin,” he tweeted.

“Personally am still out of a position currently. Rather wait for some solid PA to form before rushing in.”

Trader and analyst Rekt Capital, meanwhile, eyed $28,800 as the key level to watch on weekly timeframes.

Caleb Franzen, senior market analyst at Cubic Analytics, had his sights on slightly lower numbers, pointing to a potential support retest area on CME Group Bitcoin futures markets.

At around $27,000, this was a “gap” in the futures market left over from mid-2022, which the spot price only managed to “fill” in recent weeks.

“CME futures still haven’t retested this important support & resistance zone, but got very close this morning,” he commented.

“I think bulls should be happy to get an opportunity to reload in this range, if/when we get there. No need for panic/concern yet.”

CME Group Bitcoin futures annotated chart. Source: Caleb Franzen/Twitter

Bitcoin bulls running out of time?

Looking to upside potential, monitoring resource Material Indicators suggested that there was solid potential for a fiery reclaim of $30,000 and beyond if bulls were able to regain control.

Related: Forget BTC price: The Bitcoin mining boom is quietly going parabolic

Everything hinged on $29,500, it argued on the day — exactly the focus level for BTC/USD at the time of writing.

“BTC flushed about $32M out of the range and left a black hole of upside illiquidity,” it commented alongside a print of buy and sell liquidity on the Binance order book.

“If bulls can reclaim $29.5k before ask liquidity returns, there is very little friction between here and the mid $30s.”

BTC/USD order book data (Binance). Source: Material Indicators/Twitter

Magazine: Crypto audits and bug bounties are broken: Here’s how to fix them

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