The price of the flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin ($BTC) has seen an unexpected and brief surge on Binance.US after it skyrocketed to $138,000 in a flash rally that sent ripples through the cryptocurrency market.
The flash rally occurred on the BTC/USDT trading pair and was short-lived, lasting mere seconds at 6:50 a.m. UTC, before prices moved back to levels consistent with other spot Bitcoin markets.
The spike didn’t seemingly affect other trading pairs, and came at a time in which the price of the flagship cryptocurrency has been surging amid a flurry of spot Bitcoin exchange traded-fund (ETF) filings from financial giants including BlackRock and Invesco.
Analysts have posited that this anomaly was likely not the result of an eager trader willing to pay a high premium for Bitcoin. Instead, the price wick is thought to have emerged due to low liquidity for Bitcoin against Tether on Binance.US.
Data on market depth indicates that a $400,000 Bitcoin buy on this trading pair could elevate prices by 2% according to CoinDesk —a sharp contrast to the minimum of $842,000 needed to create the same effect on a BTC/USD trading pair.
his event draws parallels to a similar incident on Bitfinex, another cryptocurrency exchange, where Bitcoin saw a flash rally to $56,000, surpassing levels on other platforms for a brief period last month. This rally was accompanied by a surge in trading volume and resulted in the liquidation of some traders’ positions.
Such anomalies serve as a stark reminder of the volatility and unpredictability inherent in the cryptocurrency market. Despite these occasional hiccups, various analysts remain bullish on Bitcoin. Arthur Hayes, Co-Founder and former CEO of crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX, has even reaffirmed his belief that Bitcoin’s price will eventually surpass the $1 million mark.
Earlier this year it was revealed that the small kingdom of Butan, known for measuring Gross National Happiness, has been running a thriving Bitcoin mining operation.
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