Bitcoin traders' risk sentiment has turned bullish, as evidenced by this week's futures-driven rise to $95,000. Will the bulls make one other attempt after retesting a key underlying support level?
As 2026 begins, Bitcoin and choose altcoins rallied back towards their weekly highs, and the present situation across all markets highlights the development in investor sentiment and trading volumes. Since January 1, Bitcoin showed further improvement, with narrowing range consolidation clearly reflected in higher intraday lows and better highs, resulting in the weekly high at $94,800.
Review of BTC/USDT 7-day liquidation heatmap. Source: Hyblock
Hyblock's 7-day liquidation heatmap data shows long liquidation clusters between $89,000 and $87,000 and short positions at weekly highs around $95,000.
From a technical trader's perspective, the rally at first of the yr took the value above the 20-day moving average, which is currently converging with the 50-day moving average. After BTC did not hold $95,000 and liquidate the short positions on this zone, some traders appear to have reduced their positions to take profits in anticipation of a retest of the lower support of the 20-MA at $89,400.
BTC/USDT (Binance) 1-day chart. Source: TradingView.com
If the present trend continues and volume allows, there might be one other attack on the $95,000 mark in the approaching days. Such a move may lead to short covering and liquidations, allowing bulls to take advantage of a big gap in the quantity profile of the BTC/USDT pair (Binance) and setting Bitcoin up for a 13% rise to $101,500.
As shown within the chart below, the vast majority of Bitcoin's intraday price motion this week was driven by traders using perpetual futures to trigger liquidations. Note that as BTC rose to $94,800 on January 5, there was an almost $1.1 billion increase in futures buying volume, in line with data from TRDR.io, and $100 million briefly positions within the BTC/USDT pair were liquidated on Binance.
Example of criminal traders driving Bitcoin price motion. Source: TRDR.io
As previously explained, the present liquidation heatmap data and order book structure suggest that an identical event could occur again if traders push the BTC price to $94,000.
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