Bitcoin (BTC) saw tough resistance after nearing $41,000 on July 28 amid calls for consolidation of recent gains.

BTC/USD i-60 minutes candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

$forty,000 yet to stick as new support

Information from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD pulling back beneath the $40,000 marker every bit Wednesday progressed.

The pair had begun with a fresh surge which took information technology towards heavy range resistance but ultimately lacked the momentum to change its existing paradigm.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin focused on $39,500, having dipped to lows of $39,300.

For Cointelegraph contributor Michael van de Poppe, a retracement was non only welcome but essential for cementing new higher levels - and the prospect of a farther breakout.

Bitcoin, he said on Wednesday, needed to close out a higher low.

"What you desire to meet later such a motility is the price is going to make a higher low, and preferably y'all want to see information technology happen in the range around $34,500," he explained, noting that this was previously an area of involvement.

Either side of that level for higher low constructions were $32,500 and $36,000, he added.

Adopting a cautiously bullish short-term view, crypto trading company QCP Capital meanwhile acknowledged that the range ceiling ($42,000) would exist unlikely to shift prior to Friday's options death event.

"Technical assay bated, our sense is that the market place will continue looking to trade within this 30-40k range in the near-term," the firm told Telegram channel subsrcibers.

"Into Friday's month-end death, we wait 40-42k to agree equally the OI peaks here with 11k BTC notional (Nautical chart 5). We expect this level to act equally a magnet into Friday's expiry with the long gamma in the market pinning it to this price region."

Never mind the golden cross

A further topic on traders' lips on Wednesday concerned a longer-term phenomenon: the so-chosen "golden cross."

Related: GBTC premium matches Bitcoin price crash levels as unlocking fear fades

Formed past the rising 50-day moving average crossing above the 200-day moving boilerplate, a aureate cross is the opposite of a death cross, a characteristic which sparked considerable contend when it entered the BTC/USD chart in mid-June.

Now, thanks to this week's toll uptick, the possibility of a gold cross and its associated bullish implications were "non insignificant," Van de Poppe said, while arguing that as a feature, information technology has little importance to the marketplace overall.

Fellow trader and analyst Rekt Capital likewise entertained the aureate cross narrative, forecasting its fulfilment as soon as next month.