Live data from Hacker News

Number go down: the single trade that crashed Bitcoin

davidgerard.co.uk

1–10 of 36 posts

Re: Number go down: the single trade that crashed Bitcoin

#3
post #2

On BitCoin this type of behaviour seems quite easy to spot but it happens elsewhere too - eg the S&P E-Mini futures and probably the Nasdaq futures. It takes remarkably few contracts to actually move the market - especially during the Globex session.

oh yeah - this sort of thing is rife on thinly-traded commodity and forex markets, especially if you think the regulators aren't paying much attention - you'll see Barts all over the place.

It's a symptom of just how thin trading is in crypto, even for the "biggest" one.

Re: Number go down: the single trade that crashed Bitcoin

#5
post #2

On BitCoin this type of behaviour seems quite easy to spot but it happens elsewhere too - eg the S&P E-Mini futures and probably the Nasdaq futures. It takes remarkably few contracts to actually move the market - especially during the Globex session.

oh yeah - this sort of thing is rife on thinly-traded commodity and forex markets, especially if you think the regulators aren't paying much attention - you'll see Barts all over the place. It's a symptom of just how thin trading is in crypto, even for the "biggest" one.

I'm not sure "thin" is the right word here. It took something like 20 minutes for someone to dump nearly $40 million worth of Bitcoin, and after the dust had settled, the price had dropped less than 12%.

There are many other factors that lead to this sort of thing happening with Bitcoin, including the lack of regulatory oversight you mention.

Re: Number go down: the single trade that crashed Bitcoin

#6
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh yeah - this sort of thing is rife on thinly-traded commodity and forex markets, especially if you think the regulators aren't paying much attention - you'll see Barts all over the place. It's a symptom of just how thin trading is in crypto, even for the "biggest" one.

I'm not sure "thin" is the right word here. It took something like 20 minutes for someone to dump nearly $40 million worth of Bitcoin, and after the dust had settled, the price had dropped less than 12%. There are many other factors that lead to this sort of thing happening with Bitcoin, including the lack of regulatory oversight you mention.

The nominal market cap of BTC right now is about $129 billion. A $40m trade represents about 0.03% of the reported market cap. That a trade that small would cause the market to crash by double digit percentage points is absolutely a sign of a thin market.

Also, the slow speed of price propagation isn’t a sign that the market is thick, it’s a sign that the market is inefficient.

Re: Number go down: the single trade that crashed Bitcoin

#7
Actually I’m kinda impressed someone put a market order to sell $30 million Bitcoin and the book filled it then and there.

Yeah it moved the price. That’s a pretty big trade for BTC. Would BTC have cleared $30 million in actual trading volume a few years ago?

Now the fun part, good luck getting the cash out of the exchange!

Re: Number go down: the single trade that crashed Bitcoin

#10
post #7

Actually I’m kinda impressed someone put a market order to sell $30 million Bitcoin and the book filled it then and there. Yeah it moved the price. That’s a pretty big trade for BTC. Would BTC have cleared $30 million in actual trading volume a few years ago? Now the fun part, good luck getting the cash out of the exchange!

Luck has nothing to do with it. Someone who is able to either buy or sell such amount in short period of time is not a first timer; they definitely have access to get that dough converted/moved out of computer systems into their banking account as flawlessly as they sold that $30MM in the first place.

Otherwise they would not have done such move at all.

Post reply on HN