BTC price tops 10-day highs as Bitcoin whale demand sees 'huge spike'

Bitcoin conforms to weekend volatility as BTC price action nears $22,000 before diving lower.
Bitcoin conforms to weekend volatility as BTC price action nears $22,000 before diving lower.

Bitcoin (BTC) made the most of weekend volatility on June 26 as a squeeze saw BTC/USD reach its highest in over a week.

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

"Unusual whale activity" flagged

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed the largest cryptocurrency as it hit $21,868 on Bitstamp.

Just hours from the weekly close, a reversal then set in under $21,500, Bitcoin still in line to seal its first "green" weekly candle since May.

The event followed warnings that volatile conditions both up and down could return during low-liquidity weekend trading. On-chain data nonetheless fixed what appeared to be buying by Bitcoin's largest-volume investor cohort prior to the uptick.

"Unusual whale activity detected in Bitcoin," popular analytics resource Game of Trades observed.

"The supply held by entities with balance 1k-10k BTC just saw a huge spike in demand. Let’s watch if the trend confirms."

An accompanying chart from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode showed shifting up markedly from around the time BTC/USD hit lows of $17,600 this month.

BTC supply held by entities with 1,000-10,000 BTC annotated chart. Source: Games of Trades/ Twitter

As Cointelegraph reported, whales had eagerly purchased BTC below $20,000, forming new support clusters in the process.

CME futures gap looms large

For others, however, conservative views on price action remained the norm.

Related: Bitcoin gives ‘encouraging signs’ — Watch these BTC price levels next

Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe eyed the need to crack $21,600 definitively in order to secure the chances of further upside. Additionally, last week's closing price of $21,100 on CME Group's Bitcoin futures could provide a short-term target.

"Standard weekend fake-outs happening and probably ending at CME close at $21.1K for Bitcoin," he forecast on the day.

"No clear breakout above $21.6K at this point, yet."
CME Bitcoin futures 1-hour candle chart. Source: TradingView

The monthly close was still on course to cement Bitcoin's worst June on record with monthly losses of almost 33%.

Along with May 2021, this would also be the worst-performing month since before the 2018 bear market bottom, data from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass confirms.

Bitcoin monthly returns chart (screenshot). Source: Coinglass

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