Bitcoin to Hit $83K-$87K Before Brutal Reversal, Says Trader

Those calling for shorts too early are helping push prices higher, and their liquidations will finance the setup for the larger move down.

Doctor Profit, a well-known crypto trader, has said that Bitcoin (BTC) could climb into the $83,000 to $87,000 range before a sharp sell-off.

According to him, both bulls and bears are about to get wiped out in what he calls a “brutal event.”

A Bull Trap Playing Out to Plan

In his April 27 Sunday Report on X, Doctor Profit laid out his positioning in detail. After riding a long from $71,000, he’s now preparing to take profits and “add more shorts to the existing 120K short position” in the $83,000 to $85,000 range.

More than 90% of his short orders are clustered there, and he still sees the $79,000 to $84,000 zone as “a great area to accumulate shorts.” However, he said he’s “certain” the market pushes past $83,000 first, which is why he moved his entries higher.

The market watcher also flagged a resistance level sitting at $87,700, just 3% above the $85,000 area, and kept it on the table as a possible extension before the larger drop. His longer-term targets remain below $50,000, a call baked into his plan well before the current bounce started.

Doctor Profit’s read on the dynamic is blunt: influencers calling for shorts too early are providing the fuel to push prices higher, their positions getting liquidated on the way up while the real move gets set up.

“It will be a brutal event that is liquidating late bears and bulls! Both sides will lose unless you play it clever,” he wrote.

On the macro side, he flagged Wednesday’s FOMC as a likely non-event for rates but noted it’s Jerome Powell’s final press conference as Chair, with Kevin Warsh widely expected to take over, which would potentially put rate cuts on the table as early as June or September. However, Doctor Profit said he “highly doubts” that the dovish pivot materializes.

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Sentiment Swings and Analysts Disagree

The setup Doctor Profit is describing fits a broader pattern playing out in real time. On-chain analytics firm Santiment tracked a swing from “extreme pessimism” at the start of last week to what it called “ultra FOMO mode” by Thursday, April 23, after Bitcoin recovered above $78,000. The firm flagged the crowd’s enthusiasm as a “clear caution signal” rather than a green light.

Analyst views beyond that are all over the place. Writing on April 26, Ali Martinez pointed to $96,000 as the next major resistance after BTC reclaimed the $73,700 MVRV band but warned a break below that level could send prices toward $55,000.

EGRAG CRYPTO’s worst-case target lands at the same level, although that analyst also mapped out a path to a new all-time high if Bitcoin reclaims $90,000.

On his part, Michaël van de Poppe believes a breakout above $84,000 to $87,000 would be enough for him to call the bear market over, with $100,000 as his most bullish scenario.