Bitcoin (BTC) reduced its narrow trading range even further into April 8 as risk assets waited for fresh catalysts. 

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

Hopes for BTC price "impulse" to follow sideways action

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hovering near $28,000 on Bitstamp.

The pair continued sideways behavior into the weekend after the Wall Street trading week offered few surprises.

Despite calls for $25,000 and $30,000 to enter as near-term targets, increasing order book liquidity either side of spot price appeared to offer the market increasingly little room for maneuver.

This liquidity remained in force on the day, with monitoring resource Material Indicators capturing the phenomenon on the Binance order book.

“If you think ANY price target for BTC, ETH, DOGE or any other altcoin is imminent, you are mistaken,” it wrote, adopting a cautionary tone in accompanying comments.

“The ONLY guarantee in crypto is that these are among the riskiest of risk assets and NOTHING IS GUARANTEED.”

A specific warning focused on the BTC price bet recently made by former Coinbase executive Balaji Srinivasan, who at the time called for a sky-high $1 million per Bitcoin within the next three months.

Material Indicators added that liquidity reflects sentiment, having previously emphasized that such liquidity moves are apt to “dampen” price volatility.

BTC/USD order book data (Binance). Source: Material Indicators/Twitter

“Very calm weekend coming up on Bitcoin,” Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, meanwhile continued.

“Price action remained flat and the longer we stay in this range, the heavier the impulse will be. Based on the fact that we're coming from $15K, I'd assume we'll be seeing strong continuation. For now, support at $27,600 is sustaining.”
BTC/USD annotated chart. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/ Twitter

Related: Zhu Su’s exchange did $13.64 in volume akshually, Huobi in crisis: Asia Express

Popular trader and analyst Daan Crypto Trades shared the idea that a breakout for Bitcoin was all but guaranteed.

“Market is boring, volatility is low. These kind of periods usually precede a large move,” he summarized on the day.

As Cointelegraph reported, in terms of the Bollinger bands volatility indicator, BTC/USD is currently experiencing some of its least volatile intraday conditions of 2023 — a classic precedent for a breakout.

BTC/USD 1-day candle chart (Bitstamp) with Bollinger Bands. Source: TradingView

Fidelity: Stock market "will declare itself"

Taking a look at the wider macro environment, Jurrien Timmer, director of global macro at asset manager Fidelity Investments, drew similar conclusions about United States equiti.

Related: Bitcoin ‘faces headwinds’ as US money supply drops most since 1950s

While 2023 has seen a renaissance, he noted in Twitter analysis on April 7, the S&P 500 has moved within a sideways range for nine months.

"Where does the market go from here? As you can see, we've been treading choppy waters for a while now," he summarized.

Like Bitcoin, the S&P 500 should be due a breakout sooner or later, with the direction nonetheless unclear and highly dependent on the  Federal Reserve.

"We are only three months into 2023, but already nine months into this big trading range (since the June low)," he concluded.

"That’s a long time, and sooner or later the market will declare itself in one direction or another."
S&P 500 annotated chart. Source: Jurrien Timmer/ Twitter

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.