Bitcoin investors could finally be taking a break from selling, relieving some downward pressure on Bitcoin — though months of consolidation will likely lie ahead, says analyst Willy Woo.

“This bearish sell-down by investors seems to have exhausted,” said Woo on X on Friday. This gives the price “a reprieve to consolidate sideways for maybe a month,” or even a rebound to the mid $70,000 level, “which would likely be rejected,” he said. 

Bitcoin (BTC) prices have been range-bound between $60,000 and $70,000 for the past three weeks, and fell below $67,000 briefly in late trading on Thursday.

Woo said his “educated guess” is that the fourth quarter would be “good timing for the end of the bearish trend” and Q1 or Q2 2027 may see bullish momentum return.

In the meantime, the broader market is “heavily bearish” with both spot and futures liquidity deteriorating. “I’ve never seen BTC rally when both sources of liquidity are bearish,” he added.

Analysts tip more Bitcoin pain before gain 

Things could get much worse if global macroeconomic conditions deteriorate, said the analyst.

Bitcoin has only ever existed in a “secular global macro bull market” from 2009 to 2026, he said, cautioning that if “global macro breaks down,” then $30,000 is the fallback level of support, $16,000 is the final line to maintain a long-term bull trend.

Related: Analysts reject Jane Street ‘10 a.m. dump’ claims, say Bitcoin isn’t easily manipulated

Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan echoed the sentiment in an X post on Thursday, commenting on various recent conspiracies regarding market action.

The real reason Bitcoin is down is that “a bunch of people who were long Bitcoin sold their Bitcoin exposure,” he said. 

They sold because of the four-year cycle, because of quantum fears, and because they wanted to invest in AI start-ups, and for other reasons, he continued, adding that the selling pressure is almost over. 

“They are mostly done selling, and we are in the process of bottoming. We will set new all-time highs in the future. This is a classic crypto winter, and there will be a classic crypto spring.”

Months of sideways consolidation ahead 

Research lead at Bitrue, Andri Fauzan Adziima, told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin’s historic weekly RSI (relative strength index) oversold reading “strongly confirms that aggressive selling pressure has peaked or is fading, a classic exhaustion signal behind the recent bounce from its lows.” 

This also supports the outlook for prolonged consolidation, he said. “Expect more sideways chop, repeated tests of $62,000 to $65,000 support, and range-bound action in the $60,000 to $70,000 zone for weeks to months, unless sustained ETF inflows or a macro risk-on shift provide the catalyst to break higher.”

Meanwhile, Jeff Ko, chief analyst at the CoinEx exchange, told Cointelegraph that while recent improvements in spot ETF inflows suggest the aggressive selling pressure is easing, “a sudden V-shaped recovery is unlikely after a steep 50% drawdown.” 

“We are likely looking at a prolonged consolidation phase within a wide structural range, as the market takes 3 to 6 months to repair sentiment, reminiscent of the sideways action we saw post-LUNA,” 

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