Bitcoin has shown a surprising up-move today, however, the low trading volumes and huge short orders won’t let the momentum sustain further.
Bitcoin has been showing some wild price fluctuations today as the cryptocurrency gained $400 in its price surging above $6800 in just half-an-hour according to the charts on CoinMarketCap. The data shows that Bitcoin made a high of $6816, which is also its two-week high and is currently consolidating around $6700 levels.
The rapid price movement took place exactly at the time when cryptocurrency-exchange had scheduled it maintenance and went offline at 1:00 UTC. However, the price surge has been supported by a relatively low volume and the oscillations already suggest a slowdown in the bullish momentum.
the moment @BitMEXdotcom went offline pic.twitter.com/OxppDispgb
— Camelul (@camielul) August 22, 2018
BitMEX is one of the most popular global trading platforms handling billions of dollars of daily trade and seems to now have resumed its operations back to normal.
Bitcoin is Under Selling Pressure With Record Number of Shorts in Place
The world’s largest cryptocurrency is currently facing a lot of selling pressure as the short orders placed have reached a record high, according to the data on cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX. This clearly indicates that fact that the sentiment is deeply bearish as a majority of the cryptocurrency enthusiasts believe that the BTC price will sink in the short.
The bullish sentiment which was seen earlier this year has failed to hold especially after the SEC postponing the decision of Bitcoin ETF to the end of September. Post that, the cryptocurrency market has witnessed a heavy meltdown last week when the overall cryptocurrency market-cap dropped to its nine-month low, and deep below $200 billion, before finally recovering back.
However, the major drop in the market valuation was contributed by the collapse in the altcoin space. Ethereum and many other ERC 20 tokens have been seen losing more than 20-25% in the last two weeks, and nearly 80% from their prices earlier this year in January. During this time of massive meltdown, Bitcoin has been able to hold relatively well as its market share has been on a continuous rise.
While most of the other altcoins have been facing an existential crisis, cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been seen shifting their focus on Bitcoin. As we also know, the extremely volatile cryptocurrency market has got its own way of surprising investors. Thus, nothing can be said with absolute certainty as to in which direction will the winds flow.