The price of Bitcoin jumped today by more than $400 to reach an intraday high of $6,800. This was the highest level in two weeks. It happened at a period when the price of Bitcoin was moving sideways. It is unclear what caused the spike. Some experts attributed the spike to BitMEX going offline for scheduled maintenance. BitMEX is a large leveraged cryptocurrencies firm that handles millions of transactions every day.
Today’s price action reminded traders of price manipulations which occur in the crypto sector. In recent months, exchanges have been accused of manipulating the prices of major cryptocurrencies in ways that would be illegal in other markets like stocks. The opaque nature of cryptocurrencies makes it difficult for this type of manipulation to be avoided.
In recent days, regulation has become a major topic in the crypto market. Two days ago, the famous Winklevoss twins announced that they were forming a crypto supergroup that will act as a regulator. The group’s members are some of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world such as BitStamp, bitFlyer, and Bittrex. It is unclear whether other members will join the group.
These developments have come at a time when many cryptocurrency investors are disappointed with the industry. Earlier in the year, the value of cryptocurrencies increased to almost $800 billion. This value has been wiped out and is now at below $200 billion. On Monday, the New York Times published stories about people who bought Bitcoin at $18,000 and who have seen their value wiped out.
The BTC/USD pair is now trading at $6655, which is slightly lower than the intraday high of $6800. This price is above the 42 and 21-period exponential moving average, and higher than the weekly low of $5,800. This price is closer to the 38.2% Fibonacci Retracement level. If the pair breaks the resistance, it will likely test the 50% level at $7,000.
