Bitcoin Price Plummets to $8,900 on BitMEX Exchange

Key Takeaways:

• The price of Bitcoin (BTC) on BitMEX plummeted as low as $8,000 late Monday night, prompting the exchange to launch an investigation.
• A spokesperson for BitMEX stated that the massive price drop resulted from “aggressive selling behavior involving a very small number of accounts that exceeded expected market ranges.” Nevertheless, the BitMEX crash raises questions about the exploitability of crypto exchanges.

What Caused The Crash?

The BitMEX exchange crash was unexpected, taking crypto enthusiasts the world over by surprise.

Reports indicate that the crash was caused by an account selling large numbers of BTC at prices far below current trading figures.

Still ongoing although appears his clips are getting smaller – "only" 3BTC dumped past 5 minutes down to $57,000. pic.twitter.com/rCbot9IpCk

— syq (@syq) March 18, 2024

Approximately 977 BTC, worth around $66 million, were sold. The crash occurred because these numbers far exceeded BitMEX's expected market range. According to a comment on BitMEX's X.com account, only the BTC/USDT pair was affected; other spot trading pairs and the exchange's derivatives market saw no effect.

Bitcoin Recovers

The drop occurred at 22:40 UTC, and prices hit their lowest within 2 minutes. By 22:50 UTC, the price of Bitcoin had rebounded back to $67,000. However, the event has led many traders to seek BitMEX alternatives.

Following the incident, BitMEX temporarily halted withdrawals, citing a “spot issue” as the cause. The jury is still out regarding the goal of the crash or the perpetrator.

Previously, bad actors have forced price crashes to profit from shorts. However, whether profit was the goal of the BitMEX crash is yet to be revealed.

BTC Price Dropping

Since Bitcoin (BTC) broke out of its range at the beginning of February, all eyes have been on the asset.

Between February 5th and March 14th, the price of BTC rose by over 72%, eventually hitting an All-Time High (ATH) of $73,794.

Since creating its new high, BTC has been steadily declining. Today, the cryptocurrency trades for around $62,550, over 15% below its March high. With the Bitcoin halving just 30 days away, crypto investors are wondering what the coming weeks will bring.