Bitcoin Price Just Dove $300 After OKEx Froze Withdrawals: Here’s Why
Bitcoin has rapidly corrected lower in the past hour. In the span of thirty minutes earlier this hour, the leading cryptocurrency slid from $11,520 to a low near $11,200. Bitcoin has since recovered to $11,275 as buyers have stepped in at those pivotal lows, an important region of technical support.
The cryptocurrency is down 2% in the past 24 hours after this correction. Altcoins are underperforming the leading digital asset, with Ethereum losing 3% as other altcoins fall even more.
Chart of BTC's price action over the past few hours. Source: BTCUSD from TradingView.com
The move lower comes after it was revealed that OKEx, a leading cryptocurrency exchange processing billions in volume, had frozen withdrawals.
Related Reading: Here’s Why Ethereum’s DeFi Market May Be Near A Bottom
Top Crypto Exchange OKEx Freezes Withdrawals
Announced just an hour ago, leading crypto-asset exchange OKEx has frozen withdrawal of all cryptocurrencies, from Bitcoin to the altcoins it supports.
In an announcement published to the company ZenDesk, OKEx stated that “one of our private key holders is currently cooperating with a public security bureau.” The company has not been able to contact the holder, currently unnamed, and thus are unable to send out withdrawals securely.
The top Bitcoin exchange says that this is in line with their terms of service, which states that they can interrupt services “at any time or without prior notice.”
The exchange is still operational, meaning those that have coins still in wallets can trade as they please.
OKex suspends crypto withdrawals pic.twitter.com/RjFmcITqut
— Alistair Milne (@alistairmilne) October 16, 2020
The market dropped seemingly because some fear this may be a sign of increased regulation of cryptocurrencies.
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Millions Liquidated on Bitcoin Futures Exchanges
This move lower liquidated many on leading Bitcoin futures exchanges.
Skew.com, a crypto derivatives tracker, reports that $6 million worth of Bitcoin longs has been liquidated in the past hour alone. This metric only pertains to BitMEX, suggesting that millions more were liquidated across other platforms.
Related Reading: 3 Bitcoin On-Chain Trends Show a Macro Bull Market Is Brewing
Featured Image from Shutterstock Price tags: xbtusd, btcusd, btcusdt Charts from TradingView.com Bitcoin Price Just Dove $250 After OKEx Freezes Withdrawals
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Nick Chong, @KhareemSudlow