Bitcoin stabilizes after yesterday’s flash crash—but for how long?
- After a good week, Bitcoin crashed on Saturday night.
- Prices have since stabilized.
- Ahead of Tuesday’s halving, it’s not clear which way the coin will go.
Many hope that Tuesday’s Bitcoin halving will bump up the price of Bitcoin, but last night, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap crashed in value by 15%. As of Sunday afternoon, the price has stabilized…for now.
On Saturday night, the price of Bitcoin fell from around $9,800 to lows of $8,518, according to data from metrics site CoinMarketCap. And one of the most popular crypto exchanges, Coinbase, went offline as whales unloaded their Bitcoin onto the market.
According to CryptoDiffer, a total of $1.22 billion was liquidated from exchanges. $368.13 million was wiped from Huobi; $284.82 million from BitMEX; $282.20 million from OKEX; $280.96 million from Binance; and $1.5 million from FTX.
The flash crash put a dent in Bitcoin’s remarkable recovery from the Black Thursday crash on March 12, when $22 billion was wiped from Bitcoin’s market cap within 24 hours. The past week was largely positive for Bitcoin (except for yesterday’s crash); Bitcoin hit the $10,000 mark several times—highs not seen since February.
The flash crash will surely shake investor confidence in the currency, which is already infamous for its volatility. Some people have bought Bitcoin following predictions that the price of Bitcoin will rise due to Tuesday’s Bitcoin halving—when mining revenue for miners will halve, constricting the supply of new Bitcoin. But last night, Bitcoin’s price fell.
Impossible to predict
Lately, the price of Bitcoin has been completely erratic. Analysts attribute a barrage of market forces—COVID-19, the stock market crash and the oil price war—to its volatile movements.
Of course, only mystics can predict what’ll happen to Bitcoin’s price following Tuesday’s halving. But many have tried.
Some predict that the price will soar after May 12—as it has done following previous halvings—while others expect that the halving is already priced in and that nothing much will happen.
Data shows that big investors have held onto their Bitcoin ahead of the halving. Many new investors have also entered the market, perhaps viewing the dip in March as a prime buying opportunity.
But nobody, not even the “experts”, can predict the future. Roll on May 12.
