Rogue trader crashes Bitcoin to $8900 on BitMEX in massive sell-off event Rogue trader crashes Bitcoin to $8900 on BitMEX in massive sell-off event
Over $600 million wiped from crypto futures in market wide downturn.
2 min read
Updated: Mar. 19, 2024 at 10:20 am UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
BitMEX is investigating an unusual activity involving “a user selling large orders” on its Bitcoin spot market.
Yesterday, several market observers identified a rogue seller who unloaded more than 400 BTC on the BitMEX exchange. This action resulted in the flagship digital asset crashing by 87% to as low as $8900 on the platform yesterday before correcting to the actual price.
BitMEX clarified that the event did not impact its derivative markets or index price. It added:
“This does not affect any of our derivative markets, nor the index price for our popular XBT derivatives contracts. The trading platform is operating as normal and all funds are safe.”
BTC faces further declines
Meanwhile, Bitcoin price faced further challenges today, dropping to around $63,000 in Asian trading hours after crashing by more than 6%. This decline was part of a broader market downturn that erased over $600 million from crypto futures traders.
Amid Bitcoin’s struggles, other major cryptocurrencies also suffered losses. Ethereum, Solana, BNB, Cardano, and Avalanche experienced more than 5% declines.
Some analysts see this dip as typical market behavior preceding the upcoming halving event. Crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe observed a pattern mirroring previous halvings and suggested that Bitcoin price tends to peak about five weeks before the halving, which is then followed by a consolidation period and potential altcoin activity.
The eagerly awaited BTC halving event is set to occur on April 20, with fewer than 5,000 blocks remaining until the big day.
Price speculators lose $623 million.
The recent market downturn inflicted substantial losses on 240,000 crypto traders, tallying a staggering $623 million in just 24 hours.
According to Coinglass data, long traders bore the brunt of the losses, accounting for $516 million, while their short counterparts were liquidated for a modest $107 million.
Across assets, Bitcoin traders experienced liquidations of more than $150 million, followed by Ethereum traders with $106 million in losses.
The most significant liquidation order registered was a $12 million long position on Bitcoin, executed via the OKX crypto exchange.
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Author 
Oluwapelumi Adejumo
Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.
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Bitcoin, a decentralized currency that defies the sway of central banks or administrators, transacts electronically, circumventing intermediaries via a peer-to-peer network.
Ethereum
$3,462.40
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
Solana
$194.430
Solana is a high-performance blockchain platform that utilizes a unique consensus algorithm called “Proof of History” to achieve fast transaction speeds and low fees.
Cardano
$0.94337
Cardano is a decentralized public blockchain and cryptocurrency project and is fully open source.
Avalanche
$39.6133
Avalanche is an umbrella platform for launching decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, financial assets, trading and other services.
BitMEX
HDR Global Trading Limited owns and operates BitMEX which is a trading platform that offers investors access to the global financial markets using only Bitcoin.
OKX
OKX is a world-leading digital asset exchange, providing advanced financial services to global traders by using blockchain technology.