Bitcoin price dips 3% as liquidity hunt follows $4.6B MicroStrategy buy

Bitcoin ( BTC ) gave back early-week gains at the Nov. 18 Wall Street open as a liquidity hunt came for late longs.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView

BTC price reacts as MicroStrategy announces giant purchase

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed a 3% BTC price drop, taking BTC/USD below the weekly close.

That weekly close had marked Bitcoin’s highest ever, but news that business intelligence firm MicroStrategy had purchased $4.6 billion of BTC over the past week appeared to sour the mood.

“Usually we get a short term dump on Saylor’s buy announcements as it explains a lot of the buying that was done,” popular trader Daan Crypto Trades responded in a post on X.

BTC/USD hit new all-time highs near $93,500 on Nov. 13 before volatility set in, with intraday lows focusing on the area just below $87,000.

“Nothing changed with $BTC,” popular trader and commentator Josh Rager argued on the day.

“Bitcoin is just ranging and is very healthy after a 40% move up in just over week. In the meantime, let altcoins/memecoins fly and find price discovery. Current market win-win for entire crypto industry.”

Total crypto market cap 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

Others entertained the idea of a deeper BTC price retracement, with “buy the dip” targets already extending toward $70,000 .

“Bitcoin dips are still ready to be bought,” trader, analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe told X followers. 

“I think we'll see a substantial dip across markets in the coming 1-2 weeks, but for now, enjoy the upward ride.”

BTC/USDT 1-day chart with RSI data. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/X

Opportunists suffer in Bitcoin support retest

Bitcoin meanwhile began taking a wall of liquidity with its move below $90,000, with popular trader Skew noting increasing short positioning now entering.

“A lot of shorts just opened here into price & still chasing ~ 2K + BTC in shorts. Some minor long capitulation as well on that move,” he confirmed .

Data from monitoring resource CoinGlass put 24-hour BTC long liquidations at around $35 million at the time of writing.

BTC liquidations (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

“Usually these walls get pulled but this time they actually got sold into & mostly got filled,” Skew continued .

“Funny if it was not intentional but let's see if this price area gets defended now.”

Daan Crypto Trades added that Bitcoin had filled its latest “gap” on CME Group's Bitcoin futures market.

BTC/USDT 15-minute chart with CME Bitcoin futures data. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X

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.