Bitcoin (BTC) fell victim to large order book players on June 20 as a slow grind beyond $66,000 evaporated.

Bitcoin traders get chopped up in fresh volatility

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting $66,455 on Bitstamp before the Wall Street open.

Those gains barely lasted, however, before an abrupt about turn sent the pair a full $2,000 lower.

Analyzing the latest movements, trading resource Material Indicators put the blame firmly at the whales’ door.

“FireCharts shows whales spoofing bids in the order book,” it confirmed on X, citing data from one of its proprietary trading tools.

“Monday’s buy wall at $60k was pulled shortly after the Daily open and another buy wall that appeared at $66k seems to have disappeared after just 45 mins.”

Live coverage of BTC order book pairs from monitoring resource CoinGlass confirmed an area around $64,250 as the new focal point for liquidity at the time of writing.

A further topic of debate on the day came courtesy of confiscated BTC belonging to the German government being moved onchain — a process that Cointelegraph reported on the day prior.

Popular trader Daan Crypto Trades was hopeful that history might repeat itself as a result.

“Good example yet again,” he told X subscribers.

“Can’t remember a time where sell offs, big or small, due to government coins moving/selling haven’t marked some kind of local bottom.”

CoinGlass data confirmed both long and short BTC positions feeling the heat as a result of the day’s volatility, with shorts so far on the losing end.

Jobless claims avoid major miss

The latest United States macro data, meanwhile, provided mixed signals on progress versus inflation.

Related: Bitcoin price uptrend ‘intact’ with hodlers 120% in profit — Research

Jobless claims for the week through June 15 came out at 238,000 versus the expected 235,000, down 5,000 from the week prior.

As Cointelegraph reported, crypto markets continue to exhibit sensitivity to employment data prints in 2024.

“Job openings are at COVID and GFC lows... indicative of business and liquidity cycle lows, not highs,” financial commentator Tedtalksmacro noted on the day.

Earlier, Tedtalksmacro highlighted the ongoing correlation between BTC price performance and Federal Reserve liquidity conditions.

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.