It’s been an interesting 12 hours for BTC, with the cryptocurrency finally breaking through resistance levels. Most of the drama took place within the space of just a few minutes, when BTC gained $400 without blinking. It is no coincidence, however, that the event took place just as the popular cryptocurrency exchange Bitmex went offline. The experience has left traders crying foul and caused wild conspiracy theories to circulate.
Also read: Apple Co-Founder: Crypto World “Like the Internet When it was Brand New”
BTC Breaks Through Resistance While Bitmex Smolders
Shortly before 9pm EST on 21st August, bitcoin broke out of the resistance range it has been trapped in for weeks, climbing to $6,800. Traders had despaired of BTC escaping the $6,100-$6,600 range it had been bouncing around in without the aid of a major exogenous event such as ETF news. In the end it was something that ought to have been a minor event that triggered the breakout.
Bitmex, which had been scheduled to go offline for maintenance at 9pm EST for 30 minutes, reopened on time in cancel-only mode. It immediately became clear that something wasn’t right, prompting the exchange to tweet “Some users are reporting difficulty in logging in”. Trading remained cancelled until 10pm, with Bitmex attributing the extended downtime to a DDoS attack. Some traders weren’t buying it though.
Beyond Godlike Kills Across the Board
While Bitmex struggled to get back online, traders trapped in shorts could only watch, helpless, as their positions were liquidated. Bitmex Rekt, an unofficial account that records margin calls on the platform, went into overdrive, tweeting out “beyond godlike” kills as position after position was wiped out.
In the aftermath of ‘the rekoning’, conspiracy theories were in plentiful
