BTC price dips 4.5% as US gov't Bitcoin move raises new sell-off fears

Bitcoin (BTC) faced major selling pressure after the July 29 Wall Street open as sellers firmly rejected a trip to $70,000.

Bitcoin again fails to hold $70,000

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked a spate of distribution, which sent BTC price action down 4.5%.

After slowly gaining throughout both the weekend and first Asia trading session, BTC/USD lost momentum as Wall Street returned, going from local highs of $70,016 on Bitstamp to lows of $66,839.

The move coincided with a fresh transfer from a wallet known to belong to the United States government, involving coins worth around $2 billion.

“Transfer went to a fresh wallet by looks of it which typically is the precursor of OTC related auctions,” popular trader Skew explained in part of his latest X post on the topic, citing data from crypto intelligence firm Arkham.

“Keeping an eye on this in case it has real supply impact on price.”

Charles Edwards, founder of quantitative Bitcoin and digital asset fund Capriole Investments, struck a weary tone, seeing a repeat pattern of state distribution sabotaging the BTC price uptrend.

"Just when you think all the excess supply dumping is over, the current admin finds another way to screw us," part of an X response stated.

Analyzing the latest market moves, Skew confirmed mass profit-taking at the highs across order books.

“That push up from spot takers was met with passive spot selling, hence price didn't sustain above $70K on LTF,” another X post read.

The area above $69,000 represents a psychologically significant price point for Bitcoin, which first appeared as its old 2021 all-time high. Since then, it has played hosted to significant order book liquidity.

The latest data from monitoring resource CoinGlass confirms that liquidity remaining untouched on the day, with price instead dipping to take liquidity below.

Skew saw additional downside resulting from bulls' inability to shore up the market at current levels.

Lower highs spark long-term BTC price concern

Among the more conservative responses was that from popular trader Josh Rager, who warned that a succession of lower highs could result.

"Choppy price action within the orange box until FOMC on Wednesday? Yes, that's what it seems to be happening so far," fellow popular trader CrypNuevo continued, referencing the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates.

"When there is a big event like this FOMC, markets tend to be choppy until the news come out. Big players step in with caution. Not an easy week."

CrypNuevo reuploaded an existing chart showing potential BTC price trajectory around the Fed decision, due on July 31.