Bitcoin ( BTC ) offered a short-timeframe rebound at the July 24 Wall Street open as a popular analyst eyed a “tug-o-war” on exchanges.

BTC price to retest $72K as Bitcoin sets up $7B liquidation showdown image 0 BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Bitcoin "pullback" preserves key support

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price action targeting $67,000, up around 1% on the day.

A trip lower, which some had anticipated , nonetheless preserved key support at both $65,000 and short-term holder realized price at $65,110.

BTC price to retest $72K as Bitcoin sets up $7B liquidation showdown image 1 Source: Rekt Capital

The latter level, as monitored by onchain analytics platform Glassnode , represents the aggregate cost basis of Bitcoin speculators, and was recently reclaimed as support after a brief absence.

BTC price to retest $72K as Bitcoin sets up $7B liquidation showdown image 2 Bitcoin short-term holder cost basis. Source: Glassnode

“Bitcoin has successfully reclaimed the key breakdown area,” popular trader Jelle told X followers in one of his latest posts, covering the 4-hour chart.

“With local market structure firmly bullish, it looks like the market wants to give $72,000 another test.”
BTC price to retest $72K as Bitcoin sets up $7B liquidation showdown image 3 BTC/USDT chart. Source: Jelle/X

Jelle added that data from onchain monitoring resource CoinGlass put potential short BTC liquidations around that area at $7 billion.

BTC price to retest $72K as Bitcoin sets up $7B liquidation showdown image 4 Bitcoin exchange liquidation map (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

As short timeframes narrowed Bitcoin’s trading corridor, attention thus turned to the longer-term picture.

“Bitcoin Has now consolidated at the previous cycle's high for 141 days,” fellow popular trader Daan Crypto Trades noted on X.

“This is by far the longest time it has taken to fully break through a previous all time high. On the other hand, $BTC reached the all time high before the halving this cycle which was much faster.”
BTC price to retest $72K as Bitcoin sets up $7B liquidation showdown image 5 BTC/USD comparison. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X

Exchange BTC balances creep up

Weighing bullish and bearish market factors, meanwhile, Willy Woo, creator of onchain statistics platform Woobull, flagged two hurdles for Bitcoin to overcome next.

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These included payouts to creditors of defunct exchange Mt. Gox, still ongoing , and the accompanying return of coins to exchanges.

“As for bearish signals, we are seeing a build up of coins entering spot exchanges,” he wrote in part of an X thread on July 23.

“Of note is 50,000 BTC from MtGox being sent to Kraken, and that's seemingly being front run by others sending their coins in also.”
BTC price to retest $72K as Bitcoin sets up $7B liquidation showdown image 6 Bitcoin inventory on exchanges. Source: Willy Woo/X

Woo also suggested that the launch of the United States spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may siphon capital out of Bitcoin.

“Some of the capital in BTC ETFs may rotate into the ETH ETF, hard to estimate how much, but this is a risk,” he argued.

As Cointelegraph reported , the spot Ether ETFs saw net inflows of $107 million on their first day of trading — around one sixth of Bitcoin’s first-day equivalent in January.

“In summary we have a tug-o-war happening on demand and supply. IMO the bullish factors overpower the bearish factors,” Woo concluded.

“In the short term BTC only needs to break 73k in order to light the fuse to short squeeze to 77k, above that it's nothing holding it down for price discovery.”

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.