Autor Cointelegraph By William Suberg

Bitcoin (BTC) is set for a “bigger move” as soon as next week, fresh analysis says as volatility faces a breakout situation.In its latest market update, trading suite Decentrader told readers that the time would soon come to “pull the trigger” with liquidity as BTC price action goes up or down.Analyst on BTC: “The bigger move is coming”Bitcoin has been making lower highs and higher lows throughout this week as a descending wedge on lower timeframes sees volatility ebb.Such a situation cannot last forever, and for Decentrader’s Filbfilb, it has a matter of days left to run.“We continue to trade intra day, low timeframes, with an eye on legacy markets & general developments in Ukraine to ensure we have a foot in the market and are ready to pull the trigger in either direction when the time comes, which is fast approaching and somewhat unclear as to the outcome at the moment due to the current environment, but look forward to a more sustained move,” the update summarized.The assessment mimics that of Filbfilb’s note to Telegram channel subscribers earlier on Friday, which nonetheless foresees potential lower levels over the weekend — specifically, a return below $40,000 toward support around $37,500.“The bigger move is coming.. next week i would think we will see some action,” it reads. “Each of the last 3 weekends have seen Bitcoin find its way into the demand area, but pump weaker in the following week so i dont think its unreasonable to expect something similar again this week… price currently being supported by the 50 DMA but we need to see weekly closes above that as i have mentioned previously.”Bitcoin’s 50-day moving average, as mentioned, currently sits at around $40,330 on Bitstamp, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows.BTC/USD 1-day candle chart (Bitstamp) with 50DMA. Source: TradingViewMacro picture mimics decades-old conundrumConcerns that a macro trigger could spell more significant pressure for Bitcoin meanwhile are by no means confined to trading circles.Related: ETH derivatives show pro traders are worried about Ethereum’s $2.5K supportAs Cointelegraph reported on Thursday, there is a pervading sense that the coming mid-term range could be one of significant volatility skewed to the downside.This would come thanks to inflationary pressures, reactions to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict and a growing desire to exit reliance on the U.S. dollar, euro and other Western currencies.Further out, analysts argue, Bitcoin could still come out on top alongside gold, but the process will likely be painful.Filbfilb likewise hinted at the setup showing its colors going forward.“Price action is showing some strength for Bitcoin, alongside negative funding and general negative sentiment, however, rate rises by the Fed and planned tapering will continue to cause liquidity issues for Bitcoin, at least in the short term which is yet to be recognized as the inflation-busting asset which it aspires to be,” the update explains. “This is something that is likely to take some time to play out, with less liquidity for big players and retail investors/traders facing a squeeze on their disposable income at the same time, something which hasn’t been seen in decades.”

Bitcoin (BTC) narrowed its consolidation range on March 18 as the TradFi trading week looked set to end with $40,000 still in place.BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingViewTraders patiently await paradigm shiftData from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD preserving $40,000 support overnight, and with it the area highlighted as “crucial” by analysis Thursday.Macro cues had lessened following the United States Federal Reserve rate hike confirmation, with a lack of new triggers from Europe steadying markets overall.For popular trader Crypto Ed, the next few days should see either a continuation to a target zone of $43,000 or a breakdown of the current trend.Analyzing his Elliot Wave setup for the 4-hour BTC/USD chart, however, he noted that the cycle was “still bearish” prior to a range high of $45,000 being broken — something which could happen after another few consolidatory moves in between.Those moves, specifically a strong bounce during the retracement, “would be my signal to go long,” he said in a YouTube update Thursday.Other participants were increasingly bullish on the outlook, too, with Twitter trader Zima even highlighting a long-term trend breakout for on-balance volume (OBV).As Cointelegraph previously reported, increasing OBV reflects growing demand for an asset at the current traded price, and for Bitcoin, the time appeared to be night for exiting a sideways price zone in place since as far back as January 2021.”I haven’t moved a single line on my OBV since I started tracking the move 8 weeks ago,” Zima commented. “We have broken out of the wedge to the top side and are flipping the 20 day OBVMA. We are on the cusp of a multi month bullish continuation after a year of crab.”Fellow account Allen Au added to the optimism, eyeing a potential move out of Bitcoin’s 2022 range with $46,000 as its top.#BTC is on the verge of breaking out to the upside as confirmed by technical indicators.It’s trading inside an Ascending Parallel Channel w/ resistance at $45K-$46K & support at $35K-$36K. But ST in apattern. If BTC breaks out of both patterns:T1: $49K-$52KT2: $57K-$59K pic.twitter.com/GyzgYujEuh— Allen Au (@AllenAu11) March 17, 2022Lightning Network reaches new capacity highsThe week came with a new achievement for Bitcoin network growth, notably the Lightning Network, which passed 3,500 BTC capacity.Related: Bitcoin faces new ‘milestone’ in 2022 as new forecast predicts BTC price ‘in the millions’Part of the so-called “Layer 2″ technology on Bitcoin, Lightning allows instantaneous off-chain transactions to be sent en masse at practically zero cost.The technology has been in place for several years, and has quietly grown behind the scenes to cater to increasing volume and mainstream consumers.”Don’t sleep on the Lightning Network, which continues to grow at an impressive pace,” on-chain analyst Dylan LeClair commented on the statistics.Lightning Network capacity (in BTC and USD terms) chart. Source: Bitcoin Visuals