Bitcoin (BTC) slipped below $60,000 for the first time in seven weeks on June 24 as analysis blamed “whale games” for t downside.

Bitcoin whale “spoofing” costs BTC longs big

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed new BTC price local lows of $59,809 on Bitstamp hitting after the Wall Street open.

Weakness, which began after the weekly close, continued through the Asia and Wall Street trading sessions to deliver 5% losses on the day for BTC/USD.

Reacting, trading resource Material Indicators revealed a classic scenario playing out on repeat across exchange order books. Whales, it warned, were shifting liquidity around in order to influence price momentum.

“Near range ask liquidity is paper thin in the Bitcoin order book so it won’t take much to push price up from here,” it noted on X.

“So far, that’s been a challenge because the Whale Games I expected later in the week have already begun.”

An accompanying chart showed liquidity clusters for the BTC/USDT pair on the largest global exchange, Binance.

Material Indicators referred to upcoming United States macroeconomic data releases, and added that liquidity “spoofing” courtesy of whales was also visible — similar to last week.

Data from monitoring resource CoinGlass showed the extent of pain for BTC long positions thanks to the trip below the $60,000 mark.

Long liquidations for the 24 hours to the time of writing topped $136.5 million, with the crypto total at $265 million.

BTC price retracement “not even average”

Others compared the current pullback versus others since the beginning of the latest Bitcoin bull market at the start of 2023.

Related: Can $60K BTC price support hold? 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

For trader, analyst and podcast host Scott Melker, known as the “Wolf Of All Streets,” a 10-month low for Bitcoin’s relative strength index (RSI) on daily timeframes was cause for optimism over a local price bottom.

“RSI is finally touching oversold (has not closed there yet),” he confirmed.

“This is the first time since August, 2023. RSI did not even go oversold when Bitcoin recently hit $56,000.”

RSI observers tend to look for values below 30 for possible dip-buying opportunities with the asset in question “oversold.” Daily RSI measured 26.7 at the time of writing.

Popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital, meanwhile, acknowledged the relatively shallow nature of the latest drop compared to others this year and last.

“Across all retraces dating back to the Bear Market Bottom of 2022... The average retrace depth is -22%,” he calculated.

“The average retrace length is 42 days. This current pullback is -16% deep and 35 days long. This current retrace is not even an average one in depth nor length yet.”

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.