BitMEX Whale Fat-Fingers Bitcoin to $8.9k

Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX began probing into “unusual activity” after receiving reports of a brief dip in the Bitcoin spot price on their platform. Users on the exchange observed an anomaly in the BitMEX BTC/Tether spot market around 1 am UTC, where Bitcoin’s price momentarily plunged to approximately $8,900.

The sudden drop was attributed to an unidentified trader who executed a large sell order of over 400 BTC in a short timeframe on the BTC/USDT spot market, which BitMEX later confirmed and started to investigate internally. Despite this incident, BitMEX assured that its derivatives markets and the prices of XBT derivatives contracts remained unaffected by the price dip.

Crypto researcher Syq noted that the so-called whale executed the sell-off in increments of 10–50 BTC over a span of two hours. Additionally, it was mentioned that BitMEX had restricted withdrawals for certain accounts as part of their investigative measures. In response to concerns about these restrictions, BitMEX clarified, “We have NOT disabled withdrawals for all users, but only for a few accounts that are under investigation.”

BitMEX reassured its users that the trading platform was functioning as usual, and all funds were secure. While the exchange did not divulge details about the involved user(s), the actions taken, or the precise size of the order, it confirmed the continuation of its investigation.

A BitMEX spokesperson elaborated on the situation, stating, “Upon detecting unusual activity on our BTC-USDT Spot Market, we immediately initiated an investigation. Although our systems are fully operational, we identified atypical selling patterns from a very limited number of accounts. Our compliance team is closely examining these accounts, and we will update our users on any necessary actions moving forward.”