Bitcoin fell to a one-week low on Apr. 19, as markets moved into consolidation following a recent bull run. Following today’s red wave, prices neared a breakout below the $29,000 level earlier in the session. Ethereum also declined, falling below $2,000.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies experienced a decline in early U.S. trading, with the leading cryptocurrency falling 3.8% to trade at $29,282 according to Binance data via TradingView. Ether also slipped below $2,000, with altcoins such as Binance's BNB, Ripple's XRP, and Cardano's ADA also experiencing losses over the past day.

Bitcoin whales, or addresses holding between 100-1,000 BTC, have accumulated 20,007 BTC, according to data from Santiment. The accumulation has returned the cohort's holding to over 20% of BTC's total supply. The whales had consistently taken profit over the past month but have now resumed accumulating. The data corroborates CryptoSlate's previous report that whales holding over 10,000 BTC are aggressively accumulating for the first time since January. Despite falling below $30,000, BTC price volatility is at its lowest since the second week of January, according to Santiment.

Bitcoin network fundamentals, including difficulty and hash rate, are set to hit new records despite the cryptocurrency struggling to surpass $30,000. The mining difficulty, which reflects competition for block subsidies, will reach 48.91 trillion, an increase of approximately 2.1% on April 20, according to data from BTC.com. The hash rate is also expected to reach an all-time high of 418 exahashes per second on April 18. Some commentators continue to watch the metric keenly as it drifts ever higher, with Russia reportedly stepping up mining activity to become the world's second-largest miner in 2023. Meanwhile, data from Glassnode shows that on a rolling 30-day basis, BTC sales by miners are increasing.

Bitcoin's upward momentum came to a halt on April 19 as a series of long liquidations triggered a sudden plunge, causing BTC/USD to drop to $29,015 on Bitstamp, the lowest level since April 10. The decline followed a strong rebound above $30,000 the day before. As volatility returned, traders faced challenging conditions, with liquidations stacking up rapidly. Despite this, some traders, such as bullish trader Crypto Kaleo, remained optimistic, seeing the retracement as an opportunity to buy dips. At the time of writing, total crypto long liquidations for April 19 stood at around $175 million on platforms monitored by data resource Coinglass.

In this blog, we’ll briefly review the details of these sanctions and how Bitcoin played a role in relevant transactions.

Bitcoin's price dropped below $30,000 on Wednesday to as low as $29,000, likely due to a long squeeze as over $25 million in bitcoin futures were liquidated, of which longs made 98% of the positions. The sell-off did not appear to stem from any immediate fundamental reason. The broader crypto market also experienced a sell-off, with ether falling 3% in the past hour.

Current On-Chain Macro Data and Cycle Valuation For Bitcoin Look Very Promising.

According to a research report by Bernstein, MicroStrategy's decision to sell its bitcoin tokens to pay down debt is closely tied to how the cryptocurrency performs, presenting a sentiment risk in a down cycle. The company owns approximately 140,000 BTC at an average cost of $29,800, worth about $4 billion at current prices, and has $2.2 billion in debt, with repayments due in 2025 and beyond. MicroStrategy has pledged 15,000 of its bitcoins. High BTC prices mean a stronger balance sheet, higher stock prices, and easier debt repayment without selling its BTC holdings. MicroStrategy holds around 0.7% of total bitcoin in circulation, representing about 20% of daily average traded volume in spot markets.

Finder, an Australian information services platform, conducted a survey among 32 crypto industry specialists in April to gauge their views on Bitcoin's price outlook for the next decade. According to the survey, the average predictions for 2023 indicate that Bitcoin will reach a high of $42,225, a low of $17,026, and close the year at $35,485.