cointelegraph.com 
Traders balked on Bitcoin ($BTC) at $65,000 on Monday as crypto and risk-assets remained under pressure.
Key points:
- Bitcoin staged several unsuccessful attempts to break and hold $65,000.
- US stocks face pressure from both the Iran war and an ongoing institutional tech sell-off.
- Bitcoin traders stay positive on the odds of $BTC/USD heading closer to $70,000 next.
Crypto stocks face “record pace” of US tech-stock selling
Data from TradingView showed $BTC price volatility returning around Monday’s Wall Street open.
$BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
US equities faced multiple headwinds to start the week, with the US-Iran war quashing risk appetite and a tech-stock sell-off gaining strength.
Trading resource The Kobeissi Letter reported that hedge funds were selling tech stocks “at a record pace.”
“Hedge funds have sold information technology stocks in 6 of the last 8 weeks. This brings total 8-week sales to the largest in at least 10 years,” it said in a post on X, citing Goldman Sachs data.
US tech stock investment trend data. Source: The Kobeissi Letter/X
To be sure, the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index were both modestly higher at the time of writing, while the Dow Jones was down 0.3% on the day.
Oil prices remained above $80 per barrel as the Strait of Hormuz looked set to stay closed amid intensifying rhetoric from both the US and Iran.
CFDs on US WTI crude oil one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
In a post on Truth Social at the weekend, US president Donald Trump called for Iran to be included in a sanctions package initially focused on Russia.
Source: Truth Social
Bitcoin price upside hits $65,000 roadblock
$BTC price action found little room for upside as the $65,000 mark became a point of repeated momentum failure.
“The $65K level has capped price for the entirety of July so far,” trader Daan Crypto Trades wrote in an X post.
“But I do think the longer price spends here, the more likely the $65K level is to break. Especially with the higher lows being made over the past 3 weeks.”
$BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X
Daan Crypto Trades joined those who saw the next likely upside target at just above $67,000. He said this was where $BTC/USD would “break into a bullish market structure.”
Others referenced seasonality directing current price behavior, with summer traditionally devoid of major moves up or down.
“The markets are in a summer break, it feels like,” crypto trader and analyst Michael van de Poppe told his roughly 819,000 X followers while discussing largest altcoin Ether (ETH).
In a separate post, Van de Poppe gave a $BTC price target of between $67,500 and $69,000 for the “coming weeks.” Earlier, he saw August offering even higher levels of up to $80,000, a level last seen in mid-May.
$BTC/USDT one-day chart. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/X
