Bitcoin (BTC) faced fresh downside predictions on Thursday as BTC price action kept long liquidations high.

Key points:

• Bitcoin price analysis sees lower levels coming amid a lack of a “strong bounce.”

• High liquidations contrast with the tightly rangebound BTC price behavior.

• Crypto funds seal a fourth week of net outflows amid “extreme” bearish sentiment.

Analyst expects Bitcoin to “test lower”

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD acting within an increasingly narrow range, with the day’s lows at $65,620.

A modest improvement in US jobless claims prior to the Wall Street open had little impact on the mood, and market participants expected lower levels to come into focus next.

“This looks to me as if we’re going to test lower on the markets to see whether there’s some support on Bitcoin,” crypto trader, analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe said about the four-hour chart in a post on X. 

“Not a strong bounce, and constant lower highs.”

CryptoReviewing, the pseudonymous cofounder of trading community Wealth Capital, drew attention to ongoing large liquidation numbers despite the relative lack of BTC price volatility.

“Now, below us at $64,000 – $66,000 we still have a sizable amount of liquidity,” he told X followers alongside data from CoinGlass. 

“However, $68,000 – $71,000 has around 3x more liquidations built up ready to be taken, making this a higher probability zone to visit in the next days. Bulls really need to respond soon.”

CoinGlass put 24-hour cross-crypto liquidations at $210 million at the time of writing.

Trader Daan Crypto Trades nonetheless described nearby liquidity as “nothing major.”

“This current ~$66K area has held as support for the past 2 weeks with ~$71K capping price. Will see if we get a decisive break by the end of the week because as of now there’s not much action going on,” he wrote.

Institutions underscore ”extreme bearish levels”

Institutional investor flight from crypto instruments, meanwhile, caught the attention of mainstream commentator The Kobeissi Letter.

Related: Bitcoin 2024 buyers steady BTC price as trader sees $52K ‘next week or so’

In an X post on the day, Kobeissi flagged last week’s outflows of $173 million from crypto funds, their fourth consecutive negative weekly performance. 

“This brings 4-week cumulative outflows to -$3.74 billion. Bitcoin led the selling with -$133 million in outflows last week, while Ethereum saw -$85 million. Crypto funds have now seen withdrawals in 11 out of the last 16 weeks,” it continued.

As Cointelegraph reported, the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) form one part of the institutional sector experiencing long-term pressure under current conditions.

Kobeissi described sentiment as “reaching extreme bearish levels.”