The sudden drop in bitcoin price on Tuesday caused some brows to get a bit sweaty, but its successful stability in the light of one account’s dump suggests that the worst is over for the cryptocurrency market’s leader.
Whale Watch
On Tuesday, the price of bitcoin dropped more than $200 in just under 20 minutes — causing some to speculate that the sudden price movement was the result of a single seller dumping a large chunk of cryptocurrency’s gold standard.
As noted by MarketWatch, the price movement seemingly resulted from sell orders from a single wallet, with a wallet identifier of 3D2oetdNuZUqQHPJmcMDDHYoqkyNVsFk9r.
The given address, valued at more than $1.49 billion USD, unloaded 6500 bitcoin in one fell swoop. BitInfoCharts shows that the average sale price of the dumped bitcoin was $8,146.70, making the total value of the sale over $50 million.
Seven hours later, the account dumped another 2000 BTC at an average sale price of $7,975.45. In other words, the Bitcoin market absorbed roughly $66 million and has recovered back above $8,000 per coin in less than 24 hours.
MarketWatch also notes that some speculation in regards to bitcoin’s price movement was initially directed towards New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who recently launched an inquiry into 13 cryptocurrency exchanges — news which surfaced four hours before the sudden decline.
A Smaller Splash
The sharp and sudden sell-off pales in comparison to those experienced in March, when the price of bitcoin went through a short spell of sudden $1,000 drops on a near-daily basis — sparking speculation that the Mt. Gox trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, who sold over $400 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) from December to February was affecting the market. However, Kobayashi denied affecting the market prices of both cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin’s recent price action also pales in comparison to the dramatic increase in valuation, which took place on the morning of April 12, when the market leader suddenly rocketed up from roughly $6,590 to nearly $8,200 in less than the span of one hour.
The most recent sell-off from the lone account has largely unaffected the price of bitcoin, helping solidify the theory that the cryptocurrency’s bottom is in for 2018 and suggesting the increasingly positive sentiment is here to stay.
At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at $8,100, having primarily traded sideways over the last six days.
Bitcoin’s stability in the light of large sell orders indeed suggests that only significant and severe market manipulation could drive the price of bitcoin below its 2018 low of roughly $6,000.
What do you think about bitcoin’s seemingly new-found stability in the $8000 range? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Wikipedia Commons, CoinMarketCap.com, Bitcoinist archives.