In brief
- A Bitcoin whale sold 24,000 BTC on Sunday, catalyzing a liquidation cascade worth over half a billion dollars.
- Despite the correction, options data reveal that traders remain unshaken, with bullish posturing around the $135,000 and $155,000 strike prices.
- Improving macroeconomic conditions, following last week’s comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, add credence to the bullish outlook.
A weekend sell order from a large buyer has triggered a flash crash for the world’s largest crypto, forcing over half a billion dollars in liquidations.
The sell order of 24,000 BTC, worth $2.7 billion, catalyzed a 3.74% correction in under ten minutes, resulting in $623 million in liquidations, according to data from CoinGlass.
Still, Bitcoin is up 2.41% from its weekend low of $110,484 and is currently trading near $113,169, according to CoinGecko data.
“Should be much easier to go up once short-term momentum clears and price moves above $113,500 – $114,000,” Alex Krüger, a crypto trader and founder of Aike Capital, posted Sunday on X.
Despite the whipsaw price action, some experts suggest this sell-off is not a sign of bearish sentiment, but rather a healthy function of a maturing market.
“The price has stalled because a number of whales have hit their magic number and are unloading,” Vijay Boyapati, a software engineer and expert in crypto and economics, posted on X.
He reiterated that whale selling is a healthy event and is “required for the full monetization of Bitcoin.”
The whale still holds a massive 152,874 BTC, worth an estimated $17.3 billion, according to Sani, a Bitcoin onchain analyst and founder of the Timechain Index.
The sell-off was likely amplified by existing market conditions such as “thin weekend liquidity” and a “build-up of leverage long positions” over the past week, Sean Dawson, head of research at on-chain options platform Derive, told Decrypt.
Options data on Derive shows “bullish posturing for Bitcoin around the $135,000 to $155,000,” strikes while the recent “drawdown has done little to shake the bullish traders,” Dawson highlighted.
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