# 5 price levels that decide where crypto goes after Bitcoin's test of $81,000

Bitcoin flushed to $79,750 and reclaimed $81,000. Five levels — $81K, $87.2K, $95–97K, $75.5K and $67K — plus Ethereum and HBAR setups.

Source: https://32001105xegnxri658.top/5-price-levels/ · based on the channel [Gareth Soloway](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwTu6kD2igaLMpxswtcdxlg) · Video: [Bitcoin Came THIS Close to Breaking Down: $97K Next?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5p7VdWDV-E) · 2026-10-20

![5 price levels that decide where crypto goes after Bitcoin's test of $81,000](https://32001105xegnxri658.top/5-price-levels/5-price-levels.webp)

## Key takeaways

- Bitcoin flushed to about $79,750 and closed back above the $81,000 support line.
- A daily close above $87,200 activates the upside confluence at $95,000–$97,000.
- A daily close below $81,000 opens $75,500, where only a 25% starter position is planned.
- The remaining buy zone sits near $67,000; the cycle low is treated as intact until proven otherwise.
- Ethereum's heavy buy zone is just below $2,000, with a $2,800 retest on a breakout; HBAR targets about $0.10.

Crypto traders got a clean answer this week: Bitcoin came within a few hundred dollars of a major breakdown, flushing to roughly $79,750 before closing back above its $81,000 support. That save keeps the bullish structure intact and leaves two levels in charge — $81,000 on the downside and $87,200 on the upside. For anyone trading the move, a tier-one fee account on [Coinbase through Verified Investing](https://coinbase.com/aff/verifiedinvesting) is the practical starting point before the levels resolve.

## Why the $81,000 support line is the whole crypto story right now

The $81,000 level is the line that separates a routine shakeout from a structural break, and Bitcoin has now hammered it more than once. The flush to about $79,750 was a wick below support, not a daily close beneath it, which is why the bullish structure survived. Gareth Soloway's read is that as long as the daily closes stay above $81,000, the range-bound behaviour is consolidation, not distribution.

That matters because the rest of the market has not been friendly. The AI trade and the Nasdaq have been sliding, and Bitcoin has hung in there anyway — relative strength that is easy to miss if you only watch the dollar price. The trade-off is a tight range of roughly $6,000 between support and resistance, which is exactly the kind of chop that punishes impatient positioning. Soloway holds no swing position in Bitcoin, long or short, while price sits inside that band, and the reason is mechanical rather than directional: with both edges so close, a stop on either side is cheap to hit.

## The three factors that converge at $95,000 to $97,000

Above $87,200, three independent technical factors point at the same $95,000–$97,000 zone, and confluence like that is what gives a target credibility.

1. **A rising trend line near $91,000.** The line drawn off the consolidation's higher lows projects into the low $90,000s and keeps climbing, which is why the target could still be valid into late November rather than expiring this week.
2. **A measured move off the consolidation.** Taking the height of the range and projecting it from the breakout point lands at roughly $96,000 to $97,000.
3. **Prior pivot highs.** The old swing highs sit right in that same band, giving sellers a memory level to defend and buyers a reference to trade against.

None of it counts until Bitcoin closes a day above $87,200. Below that line the setup is dormant, and the market is simply ranging.

## The bear case below $81,000 and the two buy zones underneath

A daily close below $81,000 flips the script and opens $75,500 as the next reference, and the plan there is deliberately partial. Soloway's approach is to buy only about 25% of the intended position at $75,500, keeping dry powder for the deeper zone. The remaining allocation is reserved for the $67,000 area, where he plans to load the rest.

That structure answers the question he gets most often — whether he would go all in at $75,500. The answer is no, because a single entry assumes the low is already in, while a staged plan assumes the market can overshoot. It also explains why he still treats the cycle low as being in until proven otherwise: the burden of proof sits with the bears, and proof means a daily close below support, not an intraday wick.

## Ethereum and HBAR setups worth watching

Ethereum is trading in a range with a heavy buy zone just below $2,000, and a breakout would put $2,800 back in play as a retest. The logic mirrors Bitcoin's: the lower edge is where size gets added, the upper edge is where the market proves itself.

HBAR offered a different kind of trade — a swing setup taken with Smart Money Crypto members on a retrace back to the scene of the crime, meaning the level where price previously broke down or broke out. The target sits near $0.10. It is a tighter, more tactical trade than the Bitcoin plan, and it depends on the retrace holding rather than on a daily close confirming a trend change.

## What traders keep asking about levels, fees and game plans

The recurring questions around this analysis are practical rather than theoretical, and they tend to fall into three buckets.

- **"No Bitcoin position at all?"** Yes — inside a $6,000 range, standing aside is a position. The edge comes from acting at the edges, not from the middle.
- **"How do I short on an exchange like Coinbase?"** Spot venues are built for buying and selling spot; shorting usually requires margin or derivatives products that are not available to every account or region, so check what your jurisdiction and account tier actually allow before planning a short.
- **"Isn't Coinbase too expensive on fees and spread?"** That complaint is common, and it is exactly why tier-one fee pricing through a referral link matters — the discount applies to eligible accounts, including ones that have been idle for 30 days and users who originally signed up under someone else's link.

The deeper issue behind most of these questions is the absence of a written plan. Traders without predefined entries, exits and position sizes get whipsawed by a range like this one, because every wiggle looks like a signal. A game plan set before the trade is what keeps emotion out of the decision.

## The one rule that keeps this crypto plan honest

Everything in this setup reduces to a single discipline: let the daily close decide, and size positions so that being wrong is affordable. Bitcoin above $87,200 points to $95,000–$97,000 through a trend line, a measured move and prior pivot highs; Bitcoin below $81,000 opens $75,500 for a 25% starter and $67,000 for the rest. Ethereum and HBAR follow the same logic at their own levels. The analysis comes from the «Gareth Soloway» channel, and the practical takeaway is that levels plus staged sizing beat prediction every time.

If you want the fee structure to match the plan, open or reactivate an account with [tier-one pricing through the Verified Investing Coinbase link](https://coinbase.com/aff/verifiedinvesting) before the next daily close.

## Questions & answers

**What are the key Bitcoin levels to watch right now?**

The two levels that matter are $81,000 on the downside and $87,200 on the upside. A daily close above $87,200 activates the $95,000–$97,000 confluence, while a daily close below $81,000 opens $75,500 and then the $67,000 zone.

**Why would a trader hold no Bitcoin position inside the range?**

Because the range is only about $6,000 wide, so stops on either side are cheap to trigger and the risk-to-reward in the middle is poor. Waiting for a daily close at either edge turns a coin-flip into a defined trade.

**How should position sizing work at the $75,500 and $67,000 buy zones?**

The plan is to buy roughly 25% of the intended position at $75,500 and reserve the rest for the $67,000 area. Staging entries assumes the market can overshoot a level, which is common during liquidation cascades.

**What are the Ethereum and HBAR setups in this analysis?**

Ethereum has a heavy buy zone just below $2,000, with a breakout opening a retest of $2,800. HBAR was a swing trade taken on a retrace to the prior breakdown level, with a target near $0.10.