The cryptocurrency market witnessed a sharp drop in the price of Bitcoin in the early hours of May 17, 2019. However, speculation points to the 5,100 BTC dump that occurred on the Bitstamp exchange as the likely reason for the price drop. The massive dump on the Bitstamp exchange tanked the price of Bitcoin by more than 20 percent, which immediately led to a drop in the price of BTC on other exchanges, hitting a bottom of $7,100 across the board.
Bitstamp Sell-Off Sparks Concern
The drop in BTC prices also led to altcoins falling, with most of the top 100 tokens seeing much of their recent price gains disappear as a result. Analysts, however, attribute the price drop to a number of factors, with Jehan Chu of Kinetic Capital stating that the reversal could be the result of profit taking. According to Chu, “The latest drop was likely caused by a combination of profit taking and algorithmic trading, which exacerbated the precipitous decline. We can expect these types of steep ups and downs to continue for some time until institutional investors add volume to the market.” However, some Bitcoin analysts have noted that the sharp jump in Bitcoin prices was likely caused by the 5,100 BTC dump that occurred on Bitstamp.
Market Reacts to Bitstamp BTC Drop
Dovey Wan, co-founder of Primitive, took to Twitter to claim that the BTC dump on the exchange was intentional and had strong signs of manipulation. In one of the threads, one of Wan’s tweets reads: “Since NO ONE will simply hold 5,000 BTC on an exchange, this is a deliberately planned dump scheme, otherwise manipulation imo. This dumper can, on one hand, dump on a weak liquidity print > move the Bmx contract > 100x smaller on Bmx to gain a huge advantage in stacking cheap BTC.”
Bitcoin Faces Pressure After Major Dump
Since NO ONE would just hold 5000 BTC on an exchange, this is a deliberately planned dump scheme, otherwise manipulation imo that a dumper can on one side dump on a mark with poor liquidity > move a Bmx contract > 100x short on Bmx to gain a huge advantage in stacking cheap BTC — Dovey Wan (@DoveyWan) May 17, 2019Bitcoin after recovering from the price drop, as the currency is trading at $7300. But it looks like the parabola days in Bitcoin have been stopped, and price recovery predictions seem obvious.
Bitcoin Volatility Rises After Large Sell-Off
However, the price slump is unlikely to affect Bitcoin’s bull run. The flash crash was caused by a sell-off on @Bitstamp. https://t.co/0I5ZWxdv5w pic.twitter.com/sIv2gS24Nu— Tuur Demeester (@TuurDemeester) May 17, 2019 Several analysts have warned investors about Bitcoin volatility and an imminent BTC price drop. As reported by BTCManager, CNBC analysts Anthony Grisanti and Bob Iacchino predicted a price pullback, with Grisanti setting a range between $6,870 and $6,425. Another cryptocurrency analyst, @CryptoFibonacci, previously predicted a Bitcoin price recovery.
