Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $67,500 into June 1 as last-minute BTC price volatility cost bulls a final shot at key resistance.

Bitcoin manages to retain 11% monthly gains

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD flat at the monthly close after recovering from weekly lows.

These had come courtesy of concerns over a cryptocurrency exchange hack in Japan in addition to “predatory” moves by traders as the monthly close approached.

United States macroeconomic data in the form of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index failed to lift the mood substantially despite narrowly beating expectations, showing inflation to be slowing.

“Price has retraced pre PCE price action mostly driven by unwinding into the event itself,” popular trader Skew wrote in an update on X (formerly Twitter) at the time.

“Very important to see developing market flows from here especially spot flow - Spot bid + demand needed for higher. Lower could see some fomo hedges leading to a trap later.”

In the event, Bitcoin reversed at around $66,650, delivering a close, which put May monthly gains at 11%.

“Bitcoin is consolidating nicely here,” Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm MNTrading, subsequently summarized.

“The markets are in an equilibrium and slowly waking up for further upward momentum. Crucial area to hold at $66K.”

"Killer whale games" shape BTC price

Delving deeper into the latest BTC price behavior, trading resource Material Indicators put the blame for volatility firmly with Bitcoin whales.

Related: Bitcoin ‘diamond hands’ cut selling by nearly 50% at $73.8K — Research

Large-volume traders had played with liquidity into the monthly close, it noted, resulting in a failed attempt to flip $69,000 to support. Earlier, Material Indicators co-founder, Keith Alan, said that doing so in time would be an “epic” end to May.

“A Killer Whale dropped a brick of Bitcoin ask liquidity on the market and hammered down a wick above $69k. Now, support at $67k is being exploited, and we've yet to see any new liquidity come in above $65k,” a post on X explained.

“The great shakeout continues.”

An accompanying chart showed liquidity levels for the BTC/USDT pair on largest global exchange Binance, along with volumes from various whale cohorts.

Alan described the moves as “killer whale games in action.”

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.