Bitcoin (BTC) needs to stay above $29,000 to preserve the bullish case in the short term, famous trader Peter Brandt has warned.

In a tweet on July 1, Brandt, well known for his shrewd BTC price calls in recent years, warned that the onus was on bulls to show Bitcoin’s strength.

Brandt: Bitcoin daily performance “negative”

BTC/USD lost around 5% on Thursday, erasing more and more of its previous gains even as many on-chain indicators flipped bullish.

For Brandt, lower timeframes showed little optimism, and a shake-up was now necessary to disrupt the negative tone.

“The 5-week rectangle continues to form. The daily chart is decidedly negative,” he commented alongside an annotated price chart.

“The burden of proof is on the bulls unless they can keep $BTC above $29,000.”

That level would still be higher than that to which Bitcoin dipped last week, with the current local bottom at $28,600 on Bitstamp.

Violation of this floor opens up ground towards the previous multi-year high of $20,000, various sources have warned. 

Bitcoiners are nonetheless at odds over what could happen in terms of bearish near-term price performance.

On Wednesday, analyst John Bollinger, creator of the Bollinger Bands, eyed $31,000 as the lowest of three “logical” levels for BTC/USD. Some responses argued that such levels would not be revisited based on recent behavior.

Bollinger revealed he was also watching $35-36,000 and $41,000.

“So far they have been important milestones,” he said.

A painful price range

Bitcoin nonetheless conformed to predictions over its likely daily bounce level on Thursday.

As Cointelegraph reported, a crucial zone to hold for traders is between $32,300 and $33,000, with BTC/USD holding at the upper end of that area.

Related: Coincidence? Bitcoin saw its highs and lows on ‘Turnaround Tuesdays’ in June

Lower prices continue to rattle sentiment, even among longtime market participants. BTC/USD is now as far away from its stock-to-flow target as it was in January 2019, just after the pit of the 2018 bear market. According to the popular price forecasting model, Bitcoin should cost almost $78,000 this week.

Given the events in China, however, many argue that such price suppression is itself a logical outcome.

“June 2021 brought the most aggressive sovereign assault on Bitcoin ever,” Travis Kling, head of crypto hedge fund Ikigai, said this week. 

“That is not hyperbole, that is fact.”