Late Monday, Bitcoin (BTC) witnessed a sudden and significant plunge on BitMEX, plummeting to as low as $8,900 within a matter of minutes.
Since the flash crash, BitMEX has announced via social media that it is currently investigating the substantial sell orders.
Bitcoin’s Flash Crash on BitMEX
According to data from the charting platform TradingView, the flash crash started at 22:40 UTC, with prices plummeting to $8,900 in just two minutes, marking the lowest level since early 2020. However, the recovery was equally rapid, with prices bouncing back to $67,000 by 22:50 UTC. Meanwhile, throughout this period on BitMEX, Bitcoin’s global average price remained stable at around $67,400.
Following the incident, BitMEX, one of the leading cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges, issued a statement on X acknowledging the unusual activity and assuring users that their funds were secure.
“We are investigating unusual activity in the past few hours involving a user selling large orders on our BTC-USDT Spot Market,” the exchange stated.
The exchange clarified that while the incident impacted its BTC-USDT spot market, it did not affect any of its derivative markets or the index price for its XBT derivatives contracts.
BitMex also reassured users that its trading platform is operating normally and all funds are safe.
Whale Sell-Off Triggers Bitcoin Flash Crash
The incident has sparked concerns among traders and observers, with many speculating that large sell orders, often attributed to institutional investors or “whales,” triggered the rapid price decline. Social media platforms, particularly X, were abuzz with discussions surrounding the crash.
Still ongoing. 850+ BTC, low of $8,900. pic.twitter.com/bAiPDDM9Vj
— syq (@syq) March 18, 2024
One user, @syq alleged that a single entity offloaded over 850 BTC, equivalent to approximately $55.49 million driving Bitcoin’s price down to $8,900.
The BitMEX XBT index, which tracks Bitcoin’s price, serves as a benchmark for traders on the platform. Meanwhile, the XBT/USDT pair represents Bitcoin’s tether-denominated price, with USDT being the world’s leading dollar-pegged stablecoin.
A flash crash is commonly defined as a sudden and significant drop in the price of an asset followed by an equally rapid recovery. This isn’t the first time Bitcoin has experienced such price fluctuations. CryptoPotato has reported numerous previous incidents where the price of Bitcoin plummeted by double-digit percentages within seconds.
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