[2019-05-17] Bitstamp Starts Investigation After Large BTC Sell Leads to $250m

[tyz]

Bitstamp Starts Investigation After Large BTC Sell Leads to $250 Mln Liquidated on BitMEX

Bitstamp reported an execution of a large sell order in BTC to United States dollars (USD) on its platform today, as the exchange wrote earlier today.
While the company has not specified the details of the transaction, the price of bitcoin had plummeted about 20% from around $7,800 to as low as $6,250 in less than 30 minutes earlier on the day, according to data from trading analytics platform TradingView.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitstamp-starts-investigation-after-large-btc-sell-leads-to-250-mln-liquidated-on-bitmex

[CryptoBry]

Wow...that was a huge amount of money and am sure that Bitfinex was alarmed as this was the one that triggered the current correction we are experiencing right now...and of the press time bitcoin is now in the $7,100 vicinity with no sign that it is ready to move up. Just a single transaction has the potential to cause the bitcoin market crash all because this involved a big amount of money. I am hoping Bitfinex can uncover something unusual with the transaction and share the results to the rest of the industry.

[veleten]

Wow...that was a huge amount of money and am sure that Bitfinex was alarmed as this was the one that triggered the current correction we are experiencing right now...and of the press time bitcoin is now in the $7,100 vicinity with no sign that it is ready to move up. Just a single transaction has the potential to cause the bitcoin market crash all because this involved a big amount of money. I am hoping Bitfinex can uncover something unusual with the transaction and share the results to the rest of the industry.

wasn't Bitfinex , it was Bitstamp
they could not NOT execute a legitimate sell order even if it was way below the price level at that moment
it is rumoured that it was 26 mil worth of coins sold at 5000-5600$
this drove the price down and all of the exchanges followed , I saw Bitfinex price at 7600 $ while Bitstamp graphs showed 6500$
I guess some traders made huge money out of nothing buying for 5k and insta reselling for a higher price

this is what Bitstamp has to say on the matter:
https://twitter.com/Bitstamp/status/1129311518091300864

https://twitter.com/Bitstamp/status/1129311623951409153

lets hope that this won't trigger another dump and panic sell

[figmentofmyass]

i was watching the market selling on bitstamp in real time. it looked really, really laggy. i don't have an account there anymore so i can't say i was placing orders on the book but it definitely didn't look like it "behaved as designed". they always had a horrible engine.

i'm assuming @IamNomad is correct in that tweet thread:

The massivly latent orders that people reported as inability to buy or market buys skipping over orders is symptom of mass queuing and and slow processing. I realize you have a new matching engine on the way but that is not "functioning normally"

[pixie85]

I saw it before on bitstamp. There used to be drops like that in this bear market that dug much deeper into buy orders than on other exchanges and it shows lack of liquidity and ability to handle large volume.

There's always a silver lining. In this case if you want to buy some cheap BTC when a whale dumps keep a buy order open on bitstamp and maybe you'll get lucky

[5ensei]

They should investigate as something clearly went wrong. Must be some team of market manipulators as we know that mt gox is not going to dump any time soon and they will use an OTC service so the price won't fall like it did last time

[vit05]

Wow...that was a huge amount of money and am sure that Bitfinex was alarmed as this was the one that triggered the current correction we are experiencing right now...and of the press time bitcoin is now in the $7,100 vicinity with no sign that it is ready to move up. Just a single transaction has the potential to cause the bitcoin market crash all because this involved a big amount of money. I am hoping Bitfinex can uncover something unusual with the transaction and share the results to the rest of the industry.

wasn't Bitfinex , it was Bitstamp
they could not NOT execute a legitimate sell order even if it was way below the price level at that moment
it is rumoured that it was 26 mil worth of coins sold at 5000-5600$
this drove the price down and all of the exchanges followed , I saw Bitfinex price at 7600 $ while Bitstamp graphs showed 6500$
I guess some traders made huge money out of nothing buying for 5k and insta reselling for a higher price

this is what Bitstamp has to say on the matter:
https://twitter.com/Bitstamp/status/1129311518091300864

https://twitter.com/Bitstamp/status/1129311623951409153

lets hope that this won't trigger another dump and panic sell

it's the game. Whoever plays must accept the conditions and rules. It's clear that someone manipulated to profit from leveraged short positions in Bitmex. I think many expected something like that over the weekend, but it happened earlier. Bitstamp has a big influence today on prices, especially after the confusions of Bitfinex.

[joniboini]

it's the game. Whoever plays must accept the conditions and rules. It's clear that someone manipulated to profit from leveraged short positions in Bitmex. I think many expected something like that over the weekend, but it happened earlier. Bitstamp has a big influence today on prices, especially after the confusions of Bitfinex.

I wouldn't call it manipulation tbh. It's possible by nature to dump or pump the price as long as they could do it. If pumping or dumping an asset price is called manipulation, then I guess every second in the market is an act of manipulation.

If we want to avoid something like this to happens, then limit the number of trading volumes each person can do for each day. Limit it so that nobody can sell more than 2 BTC a day, or in extreme case, 2 BTC a week. Though I doubt that is plausible for everybody.

[figmentofmyass]

It's clear that someone manipulated to profit from leveraged short positions in Bitmex. I think many expected something like that over the weekend, but it happened earlier. Bitstamp has a big influence today on prices, especially after the confusions of Bitfinex.

i'm not sure about that. you'd think there would have been coordinated sells on coinbase pro and kraken (the other two exchanges bitmex uses) if it were that kind of manipulation.

looks like a good old fat finger.....maybe a panic sell considering price was starting to drip hard directly before the order came in. combine that with bitstamps horrible trading engine and we got a real stew goin.

[Kakmakr]

Wow...that was a huge amount of money and am sure that Bitfinex was alarmed as this was the one that triggered the current correction we are experiencing right now...and of the press time bitcoin is now in the $7,100 vicinity with no sign that it is ready to move up. Just a single transaction has the potential to cause the bitcoin market crash all because this involved a big amount of money. I am hoping Bitfinex can uncover something unusual with the transaction and share the results to the rest of the industry.

wasn't Bitfinex , it was Bitstamp
they could not NOT execute a legitimate sell order even if it was way below the price level at that moment
it is rumoured that it was 26 mil worth of coins sold at 5000-5600$
this drove the price down and all of the exchanges followed , I saw Bitfinex price at 7600 $ while Bitstamp graphs showed 6500$
I guess some traders made huge money out of nothing buying for 5k and insta reselling for a higher price

this is what Bitstamp has to say on the matter:
https://twitter.com/Bitstamp/status/1129311518091300864

https://twitter.com/Bitstamp/status/1129311623951409153

lets hope that this won't trigger another dump and panic sell

This does not make sense at all... Why would someone sell that amount of bitcoins at $5000-$6000, if the selling price was $6500 at the time? Nobody in their right mind would sell that amount of coins at a $1000 to $1500 loss per coin. 

I remember way back... someone created a Sell wall on one of the bigger exchanges and people quickly stood together to break down that wall. I think it lasted 1 or 2 days, before the Sell wall was levelled. 

The person or persons doing this have money to burn!

[1Referee]

I wouldn't call it manipulation tbh. It's possible by nature to dump or pump the price as long as they could do it. If pumping or dumping an asset price is called manipulation, then I guess every second in the market is an act of manipulation.

I prefer to call it a free market trade. If a whale wants to dump 5000BTC at once, then so be it. No one cares about a "fat finger" when the price goes up, but oh boy, when it goes down hell breaks loose. People need to stop being so sensitive to things that happen here. If this market isn't for you, then go elsewhere.

If we want to avoid something like this to happens, then limit the number of trading volumes each person can do for each day. Limit it so that nobody can sell more than 2 BTC a day, or in extreme case, 2 BTC a week. Though I doubt that is plausible for everybody.

Stock markets have certain triggers in place that halt trading when the price tanks 10% in x period of time, which I think is a matter of time before it becomes an obligatory feature for exchanges. Not sure what I think about it would exchanges implement this tomorrow, but at least it would add more comfort to those coming from the legacy space.

[davis196]

Bitstamp Starts Investigation After Large BTC Sell Leads to $250 Mln Liquidated on BitMEX

Bitstamp reported an execution of a large sell order in BTC to United States dollars (USD) on its platform today, as the exchange wrote earlier today.
While the company has not specified the details of the transaction, the price of bitcoin had plummeted about 20% from around $7,800 to as low as $6,250 in less than 30 minutes earlier on the day, according to data from trading analytics platform TradingView.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitstamp-starts-investigation-after-large-btc-sell-leads-to-250-mln-liquidated-on-bitmex

There are two possibilities,I guess:
1.Some big crypto whale is selling all his bitcoins.
2.Bitmex are selling their bitcoin reserves.
Let's hope that the bitcoin price will recover from this mass selling move.

[IconFirm]

I prefer to call it a free market trade. If a whale wants to dump 5000BTC at once, then so be it. No one cares about a "fat finger" when the price goes up, but oh boy, when it goes down hell breaks loose. People need to stop being so sensitive to things that happen here. If this market isn't for you, then go elsewhere.

Exactly. It's just another sell & is nothing new. I really can't see what all the fuss is about. Are these "news" outlets so bored that they are now going to sensationalize every large buy/sell order on any exchange? Don't they have anything better to do? Who cares who it was & why - it happens.

[BitHodler]

The way the sell order got executed hints at a leveraged side trade, but as long as there is no evidence to back this up, we can't be sure that it was actually what people consider manipulation.

I think this "investigation" is meant to signal to regulators that they take manipulation serious so that it adds to their legitimacy. Don't think whales will stay there if Bitstamp does this after every large buy or sell order.

Overall, there are no rules in place as to what you can and can't do. Bitstamp should stop trying to look like Coinbase and appreciate that whales generate the main part of their fee income.

[carlfebz2]

Wow...that was a huge amount of money and am sure that Bitfinex was alarmed as this was the one that triggered the current correction we are experiencing right now...and of the press time bitcoin is now in the $7,100 vicinity with no sign that it is ready to move up. Just a single transaction has the potential to cause the bitcoin market crash all because this involved a big amount of money. I am hoping Bitfinex can uncover something unusual with the transaction and share the results to the rest of the industry.

wasn't Bitfinex , it was Bitstamp
they could not NOT execute a legitimate sell order even if it was way below the price level at that moment
it is rumoured that it was 26 mil worth of coins sold at 5000-5600$
this drove the price down and all of the exchanges followed , I saw Bitfinex price at 7600 $ while Bitstamp graphs showed 6500$
I guess some traders made huge money out of nothing buying for 5k and insta reselling for a higher price

this is what Bitstamp has to say on the matter:
https://twitter.com/Bitstamp/status/1129311518091300864

https://twitter.com/Bitstamp/status/1129311623951409153

lets hope that this won't trigger another dump and panic sell

Its a easy money for those who do able to buy those cheap price bitcoins and who the heck would definitely do such thing if they would able to sell those coins on current market price? It is intentional or just simply
trying to pull the price down?

[bbc.reporter]

A whale pumps bitcoin from $4000 to $5000, everyone cheers. The same whale, or also possible another whale, tells himself that the trade is good and dumps his coins. Why is there a necessity for an investigation?

[veleten]

A whale pumps bitcoin from $4000 to $5000, everyone cheers. The same whale, or also possible another whale, tells himself that the trade is good and dumps his coins. Why is there a necessity for an investigation?

simply because there were standing buy orders at 7700$ or so
this whale or whoever it was put on sale huge amounts WAY below the price at 5500$ +-
this doesn't make sense , if you are offered 1 mil dollars profit and you say oh, I'll have 500k instead ,thank you
the sum is not huge huge but substantial enough to cause a cross-exchange price crash that we are only recovering today
besides there is this tweet that explains it further: https://twitter.com/DoveyWan/status/1129246233917382656

[roosbit]

A whale pumps bitcoin from $4000 to $5000, everyone cheers. The same whale, or also possible another whale, tells himself that the trade is good and dumps his coins. Why is there a necessity for an investigation?

Good observation, I guess it's a game of playing double standards!

-snip-

simply because there were standing buy orders at 7700$ or so
this whale or whoever it was put on sale huge amounts WAY below the price at 5500$ +-
this doesn't make sense

If this person has the capacity to crash or is it control the price by his(/her) tactics by offering cheap coins then he is equally capable of getting coins way below his sale price and buy more btc for less.
This looks looks like a mouse trap from here.