Volatility is back, that’s for sure. In the past 20 minutes, Bitcoin (BTC) has slipped at $7,800, wicking to $6,600 on Bitstamp as a result. It is rumored that this sell-off was a result of a massive sell order placed on Bitstamp, as made evident by the fact that during this dump, there has been an over $500 gap between its price, and that seen on BitMEX, Coinbase, and other major exchanges.<\/p>\n
As of the time of writing, the crypto asset is trading at $7,100, and continues to move minute-to-minute, implying immense volatility.<\/p>\n
This has only been corroborated that there have been colossal sell walls seen on Bitstamp, hinting that there is one entity or group of traders, likely based in Asia, that are looking to suppress the price. In fact, one commentator on Twitter quipped that such a move was catalyzed to try and liquidate BitMEX longs, which have been stacking up as Bitcoin has held around $8,000 for days on end.<\/p>\n
Data would confirm that this move worked. According to Bitfinex’ed, a popular crypto “cynic”, $250 million worth of longs were liquidated on the exchange over the past hour. In other words, those optimistic have just been pummeled.<\/p>\n
\nTwo hundred and fifty million dollars in liquidated longs on Bitmex. pic.twitter.com\/Nncar5KC6Y<\/a><\/p>\n
— Bitfinex'ed \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udc27 \u039a\u03b1\u03c3\u03c3\u03ac\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03b1 \ud83c\udffa (@Bitfinexed) May 17, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n