In brief

  • Something strange happened today in the world of Bitcoin trading.
  • On Binance, Bitcoin price hit a high of "$82,000" during the early morning.
  • All signs point to some kind of error.

File this one under “only in crypto.”

While some keen market observers wait for the price of BitcoinBitcoin to break it’s all-time high of nearly $20,000, a few traders on Binance—the world’s largest cryptocrypto exchange by volume—watched the coin go to the moon today. Even if only for a brief moment.

Bitcoin broke past $20,000 and hit a whopping $82,000… then quickly dropped back down again, as if nothing had happened. Intrigued? So were we...

According to the BTC/TUSD chart on Binance, an extremely long wick appeared at 1am ET on November 17. Bitcoin started its green candle at $16,626, lit a wick at exactly $82,000, and closed the 60-minute trip at $16,635.

Bitcoin - TUSD trading pair on Binance. Image: Binance
BTC-TUSD trading pair on Binance. Image: Binance

The rest of Bitcoin's pairs against the US dollar or its stablecoin equivalents (USDC, BUSD, DAI, PAX, and USDT) were unaffected. Trading volume during the rally didn't show any anomalies either. There was indeed a spike in volume, but nothing out of the ordinary.

What happened?

It's hard to know for sure, but considering the relatively low trading volume during the period of time compared to the absurd price spike to $82,000—and the fact that Crypto Twitter didn't go bananas—everything seems to point to some kind of error.

A "human error" by a trader would most likely have activated a row of market orders before touching the $82,000 price mark. It would have taken an enormous amount of money changing hands to organically reach that price, practically depleting the trading pair's liquidity.

Bitcoin
BTC
-10.12%$86,043.01
24H7D1M1YMAX
Created with Highcharts 10.3.312:00PMFeb 2412:00PMFeb 2512:00PMFeb 2612:00PMFeb 2712:00PMFeb 2812:00PMMar 112:00PMMar 212:00PM12:…$77500$80000$82500$85000$87500$90000$92500$95000$97500$75000$100000
Price data by
BTC price

With that in mind, a bug is the most logical explanation—at least that we can think of. In fact, similar weird blips have happened on Binance before. 

For example, on October 28, 2020, a major “Darth Maul Sword” (a little candle with super large wicks) happened on the ETHUSD perpetual contracts, activating trades at specific prices without going through the standard order matching procedures.

ETH Darth Maul Binance
A Darth Maul candle on Binance. Image: Binance

Decrypt has contacted Binance about today’s $82K BTC wick but we’ve yet to receive a response. And the traders we spoke with were as confused as we were. But we’ll be sure to update if anyone comes through with a better explanation.

For now, it’s best not to pull a McAfee and bet any of your body parts on Bitcoin touching that price mark again any time soon.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.