Bitcoin (BTC) starts the last full week of July in “wait and see” mode as altcoins steal the spotlight.
BTC price action continues to consolidate after $123,000 all-time highs, and liquidation levels are making some traders nervous.
Price targets, even those held for many months, coalesce around $150,000 for the cycle top.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell will take to the stage again this week amid ongoing pressure to resign.
Bitcoin dominance collapses, sparking announcements that altseason is already here.
Exchange BTC reserves are increasing as investors rethink further hodling.
BTC correction bets include $114,000 CME gap
Bitcoin saw some classic volatility into the weekly close, with BTC/USD nearing $116,000 before a strong rebound entered.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed multiple “long wick” candles to the downside while sellers failed to sway market sentiment for long.
Currently at around $119,000, Bitcoin is still a favorite among traders despite increasing anticipation of “altseason.”
“$BTC Closed its CME gap straight away after futures opened,” trader Daan Crypto Trades observed about the local lows.
“That’s now it’s 6th week in a row where any gap that was created was closed on Monday or really close to it.”
As Cointelegraph reported, BTC price targets hinge on a resistance trend line, which the price is currently attempting to break through.
Fellow trader CrypNuevo warned about another hurdle for bulls on the horizon.
“We’re heading into a quiet week during this strong uptrend, but there’s a warning sign potentially forming on the 1D time frame that we need to be aware of,” he said in a thread on X Sunday.
“Wicks to the upside but price not progressing any further: a sign that MM builds shorts.”
CrypNuevo referred to market makers on exchange order books, and eyeing liquidity, warned that new lows were looking increasingly tempting.
“Delta is neutral - no signs of short squeeze or long squeeze,” he said.
“However, we can notice that the biggest individual liquidation level is at $115.3k. This adds more weight to the downside liquidation cluster shown in the tweet above as a potential pullback.”
Another CME futures gap closer to $114,000 was also of interest.
“If we get confirmation of the signal ‘wicks to the upside but price not progressing any further,’ price will very quickly drop to this zone, hit liquidations and fill the gap,” the thread concluded.
Bitcoin price targets cool on consolidation
Regarding where BTC price action could head next, traders’ expectations are noticeably modest in the short term.
Which one’s hitting a new ATH next week: $BTC, $ETH, or $XRP? 👀
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) July 20, 2025
For trader BitBull, $130,000 may be the next stopping-off point for BTC/USD, with a long-term top not far beyond.
“$BTC is going through a consolidation phase after a new ATH. This is actually a good thing as alts are rallying during this. But I think BTC another leg up will start within 2-3 weeks,” he told X followers over the weekend.
“This will pump BTC above $130K and will also mark the local top. After that, there'll be a final leg up in Q4 and BTC will peak above $160,000.”
As Cointelegraph continues to report, other cycle top targets in play for months or longer include analyst Aksel Kibar’s $137,000 and X pundit BitQuant’s $145,000, now increasingly close.
Earlier this month, fellow trader analyst Rekt Capital suggested that the top could come within just two to three months.
The average July forecast on prediction service Kalshi sees the crowd favoring $124,000.
Fed’s Powell to speak amid rate-cut gloom
Another quiet week for US macro data keeps markets’ focus on the Federal Reserve and Chair Jerome Powell.
Powell, already under pressure to cut interest rates amid a barrage of personal criticism from US President Donald Trump, will deliver opening remarks at the Integrated Review of the Capital Framework for Large Banks Conference, Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
The Fed Chair has resisted pressure over his hawkish economic stance, which has included calls for him to step down.
Markets whipsawed last week amid rumors that Trump would fire Powell, something the White House denied.
Ahead of the July 30 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which will decide on whether a rate cut is appropriate, markets show little to no belief that the result will be in risk assets’ favor.
The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool puts the odds of a July cut at under 5%.
“Rising inflation and strong economic data is clouding the outlook for interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve even further,” trading firm Mosaic Asset added in the latest edition of its regular newsletter, The Market Mosaic, released Sunday.
“Market odds are about evenly split on a quarter-point rate cut in September or no cut at all.”
Last week’s inflation reports delivered a mixed bag, with the coming days set to deliver around 15% of S&P 500 companies’ earnings as commentators eye the impact of US trade tariffs.
Altseason frenzy takes over
As Bitcoin seeks to cement the bulk of its recent gains, markets are already looking elsewhere for copycat coins.
While Ether (ETH) and XRP (XRP) led the pack last week, the altcoin market more broadly is now tipped to follow in Bitcoin’s footsteps and bring about a much-anticipated “altseason.”
Altcap (TOTAL2) [2W] ready to explode into price discovery.
— Gert van Lagen (@GertvanLagen) July 21, 2025
Massive tension built up within a 4-year Cup & Handle pattern 🧨 pic.twitter.com/JHjxyxD43o
“Bitcoin remains in the Range and the consolidation continues, facilitating further money flow into Altcoins,” trader and analyst Rekt Capital summarized over the weekend.
Shifts in altcoin performance, in particular thanks to ETH strength, have already had a significant impact on Bitcoin’s dominance of the crypto market cap.
After hitting 66%, dominance has collapsed over the past week, now targeting the 60% mark for a support retest — its lowest levels since the start of March.
As various commentators note, the drop is the largest in several years.
BTC dominance largest drop in a week in 4 years.
— 🐧 Pentoshi (@Pentosh1) July 20, 2025
Enjoy the next few weeks
So far so good! We are up a lot this month https://t.co/Xw2AzLiWcN pic.twitter.com/r4u9vPecEw
“Altseason is here,” Swissblock head macro economist Henrik Zeberg announced late last week.
Others saw the potential for flash volatility amid an overall optimistic altcoin outlook.
“Very interested to see how the next week is going to be for Altcoins,” crypto trader, analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe continued.
“Given that we're slightly extended to the upside (short term) in terms of volatility, I would guess we're getting a significant short and violent correction and continue the uptrend. These six months are massively bullish for Altcoins overall.”
BTC returns to exchanges
As BTC price consolidation continues, analysts are increasingly wary of a potential pullback.
Related: Ether preps record short squeeze as analysis sees $4K ETH price ‘soon’
In recent Quicktake blog posts, onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant drew attention to two phenomena in particular: exchange BTC reserves and inflows to exchanges from Bitcoin whales.
Centralized exchanges’ BTC stocks have hit their highest since June 25.
“This sustained inflow reflects ongoing profit-taking and distribution by investors — a dynamic that often signals weakening buy-side pressure and hints at a potential corrective phase,” contributor ShayanMarkets argued.
Assessing whales, fellow contributor Darkfost noted that while exchange inflows from whale wallets do not yet match prior local tops, the trend is worth watching.
“During the previous two market tops, inflows exceeded $75B, which triggered the beginning of a correction/consolidation phase,” he summarized.
“Currently, the monthly average has just jumped by nearly $17B, rising from $28B to $45B between July 14 and 18.”
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.