Bitcoin (BTC) brushed off United States unemployment data on March 21 as traders hoped for a longer BTC price consolidation.

Kibar: BTC price ranging is "ideal condition"

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it hovered around $66,000.

The day’s Wall Street open followed lower-than-expected U.S. jobless claims, these coming after the Federal Reserve signalled plans to drop interest rates despite sticky inflation.

Risk assets took the results of the March 20 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) as a green light on policy, with the S&P 500 hitting fresh all-time highs and Bitcoin gaining 12%.

For some, however, there was no rush to reenter price discovery.

“Ideal condition for me might be taking place. I like it,” popular trader Aksel Kibar wrote in his latest Bitcoin analysis on X (formerly Twitter).

“Parabolic moves are not healthy for the long-term trend. Pauses let larger participation.”

Kibar referenced coverage from earlier in March in which he hoped for a sideways trading period below the key $69,000 level before a “breakout” to new all-time highs.

For fellow trader Bob Loukas, even a dip to lower levels than those seen recently would be beneficial.

“Fairly clean path for bitcoin. FOMC strength could mean lows on 60-day timeframe,” he told X followers.

“If a move lower still to come, this tag of 10dma is where it turns to lower low. Structurally better if it does for bull market sustainability. Otherwise close >$70k likely go go go time.”

On-chain data reveals Bitcoin panic selling

As Bitcoin rebounded, on-chain analysis captured the extent of panic among the broader investor base.

Related: FOMC meets halving ‘danger zone’ — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

As noted by trading suite Decentrader, March 20 saw Bitcoin's spent output profit ratio (SOPR) flip negative for only the fifth time this year.

SOPR measures the extent to which coins used in transactions move at a profit or loss. Negative values indicate more loss-making transactions, and March 20 scored higher than any negative day since October 2023.

As Cointelegraph reported, larger BTC entities continue to increase exposure as smaller investor classes sell.

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.