Bitcoin ( BTC ) staged a fresh day of losses on Dec. 28 as bulls faced an increasingly stubborn range.

BTC price dives $1.5K as Bitcoin analysts watch support levels image 0 BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView

BTC price denies bulls’ post-Christmas rally

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked a $1,500 BTC price comedown versus the daily open.

In a firm reminder of the power of overhead resistance, Bitcoin stayed firmly rooted in a corridor now in place for over a week .

Problems to the upside were many and various — as Cointelegraph reported , profit-taking and overly high funding rates were making analysts concerned over what could happen next.

Analyzing the status of play on order books, Maartunn, a contributor to on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, eyed increasing bid liquidity being added at $40,000 support on Coinbase.

$BTC Coinbase Spot

Limit bids worth $50 million were placed at the price level of $40,000, equivalent to 1,200 BTC. pic.twitter.com/ZkLQCjy8Jl

— Maartunn (@JA_Maartun) December 28, 2023

Trading resource Material Indicators, meanwhile, noted some buying interest from whales in the current range.

“We are also seeing some small blocks of bid liquidity move up above $42k, perhaps trying to prevent a lower low. Watching to see if it hold,” it wrote in part of a post on X (formerly Twitter) on the day.

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

BTC price dives $1.5K as Bitcoin analysts watch support levels image 1 BTC/USDT liquidity heatmap for Binance. Source: Material Indicators/X

Bitcoin ETF “red flags” concern analyst

Continuing on the immediate outlook, Filbfilb, co-founder of trading suite DecenTrader, cautioned over optimistic BTC price predictions.

Related: Bitcoin trader with $12K BTC price target warns ‘weeks’ to crypto comedown

The upcoming approval decision for the first United States Bitcoin spot price exchange-traded fund (ETF) should be no cause for making assumptions, he told X subscribers.

“The increasing competition for who’s calling the highest number for Bitcoin when ETF comes along is a red flag,” he wrote .

“If initial capital flows are lacklustre expect a correction.”

Filbfilb is not alone among market participants who see a “ sell the news ” reaction to an ETF go-ahead, due by Jan. 10, 2024. Previously, however, he forecast a $46,000 BTC price by the April block subsidy halving.

“I’m still of the view that the overall outcome will be a strong 2024 and there would be a pump of some sort on approval, but it’s expected with like 95% certainty,” he added about the ETF.

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.