A massive red candlestick on BitMEX symbolized Bitcoin’s sudden 80% crash, sending shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market. Within just two minutes, the price of Bitcoin plummeted to $8,900 on BitMEX, a stark contrast to the prices on other exchanges that remained above $60,000. The rapid decline was followed by a swift recovery, with prices bouncing back to $67,000 within a mere 10 minutes.
Speculation arose about the cause of the crash, with some attributing it to a large sell order, or “whale selling,” on BitMEX’s spot market. According to reports, a market sell order of over 850 BTC ($55.49 million) triggered the flash crash, leading to intense scrutiny by market observers. BitMEX responded to the incident by launching an investigation into potential trader misconduct on its Bitcoin-USDT Spot market, temporarily blocking withdrawals for select accounts involved in the probe.
Despite BitMEX’s assurance that the flash crash had no impact on the overall cryptocurrency markets, Bitcoin is currently trading at $63,000, reflecting a 7% decline in the past 24 hours. The incident sheds light on the vulnerability of cryptocurrency exchanges to sudden price fluctuations and raises concerns about potential ripple effects on the broader market.