LINK · 1H · SIDEWAYS

Price has been grinding through a wide range since mid-July — spiking to ~8.90 on July 27, flushing hard to ~7.95 on August 2, and now recovering back toward the top of that range. The recovery from the August low has been clean: higher lows stacking up through Aug 10–11, and price now sitting at 8.76 right under the heavy resistance shelf around 8.80–8.90. I'm watching this level carefully because it capped price on July 27 and is now being tested again from below. The structure inside this range is constructively bullish — the rally off the Aug 2 flush looks impulsive, not corrective — but I need a clean break above 8.90 before I'm on board with the long.

The liquidation clusters give me a clear roadmap: 8.54 and 8.32 are dense below, which means any dip is going to get messy fast as those clusters get swept. Above, 8.98 is the first dense cluster — that's the magnet on a breakout, and 9.20 is the next meaningful acceleration point. Funding at +0.0100% per 8h is slightly long-biased but nowhere near crowded, so there's no real squeeze risk from positioning alone. I'm not fighting the longs here, but I'm not chasing into resistance either — I'm waiting for the breakout to confirm before committing size.