Bitfinex Outage Causes Bitcoin Price Flash Crash

The Bitcoin price has taken a significant hit across the exchanges overnight. The biggest culprit for this price drop was the Bitfinex exchange, as they suffered from an unscheduled downtime. Keeping in mind how this is the largest Bitcoin exchange in USD trading volume, there was a lot of panic when things were halted. But it looks like the price is, once again, starting to recover.

A Brief Bitcoin Price Flash Crash

The Bitcoin price is dictated by the Chinese markets, a trend that has been visible for many years now. But is interesting to note how an issue at a US Bitcoin exchange can affect that market as well, even though Bitfinex does not support CNY trading. In the end, the Bitcoin price took a sharp nosedive when the exchange went dark for a brief period.

Luckily for all Bitcoin traders and enthusiasts around the world, the issue was resolved rather quickly. It is never positive to the Bitcoin price go down all of a sudden in such spectacular fashion, and it goes to show how reliant traders are on centralized exchange platforms. The Bitfinex outage hurt the OTC and futures market as well.

It comes as no surprise to see a significant dip in USD trading volume for Bitcoin market, albeit that trend started a few days ago. Ever since June 17, there has been less trading going on in this particular segment, for no apparent reason. The volume for today is looking healthy, though, and we may get above the 100,000 BTC mark once again if this trend keeps up.

Despite the outage Bitfinex faced overnight, they remain the clear market leader in USD trading volume. With over 38% of the market flowing through this single exchange, there is very little competition to speak of. Moreover, the USD market is well above the US$100m mark in the past 24 hours, representing nearly 9.5% of global trading.

The Bitcoin price is showing signs of recovery already, albeit there is still a long way to go. Whereas we were trading at US$767.77 yesterday morning, the price is now sitting at US$711.1. With strong trading volume, we should be able to get back above the US$725 mark with relative ease. But the price may continue to slide downwards as well.

Source: Cryptocompare

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