- The BitMEX price crash unfolded on the XBT/USD spot market late Monday.
- BitMEX announced on X that it is probing the substantial sell orders responsible for the flash crash.
On Monday evening, Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a sudden drop, plummeting to as low as $8,900 on the BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange while maintaining significantly higher prices above $60,000 on other platforms.
The downward trend commenced at 22:40 UTC, and within a mere two minutes, prices nosedived to $8,900, marking the lowest point since early 2020, according to data from the charting platform TradingView. However, the rebound was swift, as prices surged back up to $67,000 by 22:50 UTC.
Despite the volatility witnessed on BitMEX, the global average price of BTC hovered around $67,400 throughout the event.
Speculation emerged on social media, particularly on X, suggesting that a significant whale sell-off triggered the price crash. One user, @syq, alleged that over 850 BTC (equivalent to $55.49 million) were offloaded on BitMEX, causing the XBT/USDT spot pair to plummet to $8,900.
It’s important to note that BitMEX’s XBT index monitors Bitcoin’s price, while the XBT/USDT pair reflects its value in Tether, the leading dollar-pegged stablecoin worldwide.
In response to the crash, BitMEX took to social media to announce that it is investigating the large sell orders. “We launched an investigation as soon as we noticed unusual activity on our BTC-USDT Spot Market. Although all our systems were functioning normally, we detected aggressive selling behavior from a very small number of accounts, significantly outside expected market ranges,” BitMEX stated.
However, BitMEX refrained from commenting on specific user behavior or actions taken, emphasizing that the investigation is ongoing. “The trading platform remains operational, and all funds are secure,” BitMEX assured.
