Bitcoin's Price Needs Move Above $8,350 to Regain Bull Bias

Bitcoin's price is consolidating in a narrow range at press time and could regain bullish momentum above $8,350, technical charts indicate.

The leading cryptocurrency moved back above $8,000 on Friday as expected and was seen rising to recent highs above $8,500 over the weekend.

Despite the bull breakout, the price consolidation has neutralized the immediate bullish outlook, yet it is still too early to call a bearish reversal.

The bullish move failed to materialize and the cryptocurrency ended up creating a sideways channel over the weekend, as seen in the above chart.

An upside break of the sideways channel now would validate the descending broadening channel breakout and allow a rally to 200-day moving average of $8,468.

On the other hand, a move back into the descending broadening channel could prove costly.

The relative strength index is no longer reporting overbought conditions, meaning there is room for a rally to recent highs above $8,500 on the upside break of the sideways channel seen in the 4-hour chart.

View Bitcoin's price consolidation, when viewed against the backdrop of the descending channel breakout, indicates bullish exhaustion.

A break above $8,340 would allow a re-test of $8,468 and $8,507.

On the downside, a fall back into the descending broadening channel would shift risk in favor of a deeper price pullback to the 100-candle MA in the 4-hour chart, currently located at $7,496.