Crypto Whale’s $200 Million Short Triggers 8.5% Bitcoin Price Plunge

On June 30, according to a cryptocurrency trader, a single investor on Bitfinex placed a 20,000 BTC short order, betting more than $200 million that the bitcoin price would go down in the near term. Overnight, the bitcoin price fell from $11,900 to $10,765 as the valuation of the crypto market dropped by well over $20 billion within a span of hours.

Josh Rager, a cryptocurrency technical analyst, said that if the bitcoin price closes below $11,500, a sharp drop below the $10,000 mark is a possibility. “Bitcoin has pulled back near 26% (similar to May ’19) before it consolidated for weeks & continued up It’s not often we get two 26%+ pullbacks so close together in bull market So it’s a real buying opportunity if BTC closes below $11,500 tonight & we retest the $9k/$10ks,” he said.

The abrupt 8.5 percent drop of bitcoin in the last 24 hours was primarily caused by technical factors; an investor placed a large short contract which then led many retail investors to panic sell and bring down the market.

However, in the medium term, there still exists bullish fundamental catalysts that may improve the sentiment around the market. With trading venues in the likes of Fidelity and Bakkt opening in the latter half of 2019 and retail interest gradually rising, possibly fueled by the increase of institutional interest, analysts foresee a generally positive trend for the dominant crypto asset. In the past month, the bitcoin price has spiked nearly 30 percent against USD inclusive of yesterday’s 8.5 percent drop.