I have done lots of research within the last few weeks regarding the subject above and I’ve come up with the explanations below:
Some manipulative whales are on the loose. A bitcoin wallet which has been dormant for the last four years has just started selling off the bitcoins that the owner(s) hoarded for that period of time. Mind you the wallet holds approximately $1 Billion worth of bitcoins (a sizable amount given that BTC has a market cap of around $70 Billion). Thus the laws of supply and demand get into play here, thereby creating an illusion of mass dumping of the crypto by investors en masse and driving everyone with a considerable amount of BTC into a selling craze. Credible sources suggest that this wallet belongs to either the owner(s) of Mt Gox or the Silk Road founder.
Goldman Sachs abandoned their plans of launching a crypto-trading desk this year. This has created negative market sentiment on the BTC and what we are experiencing is partly influenced by the price correction brought forth by this.
The advent of bitcoin futures in early 2018, has given rise to massive market manipulation and suppression by whales and experienced futures traders. - This gives weight to point No.1. The lack of market regulation means that a powerful group of traders is able to act with impunity.
To further support my findings, trading volumes increased despite the price dropping, suggesting a mass sell-off.
[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]2. Goldman Sachs abandoned their plans of launching a crypto-trading desk this year. This has created negative market sentiment on the BTC and what we are experiencing is partly influenced by the price correction brought forth by this.
The advent of bitcoin futures in early 2018, has given rise to massive market manipulation and suppression by whales and experienced futures traders. - This gives weight to point No.1. The lack of market regulation means that a powerful group of traders is able to act with impunity.
[COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)]If there is market manipulation, why doesnt the price go upwards instead. The manipulators will gain more on a false rise and then quickly exit before a plunge.
Your points hold no water:
At first, in November 2017, they had said that they would have them listed by end of 2018. Many bought the coin in readiness for this, hence the surge in Dec. 2017, then in August 2018, they shifted focus to 2019. Many who had bought the crypto waiting on the upsurge upon the listing suddenly came to the realization that this was not going to happen by end of 2018; so this uncertainty led to the dumping of the crypto by many.
On the second point, I think you must be a novice and don’t know how the market works. Don’t just counter my points to look informed and you don’t have the facts. Market manipulation can occur on a down-sell or an upsell. Don’t limit yourself. Get the facts. Bitcoin had been on an uptrend for the better part of the year and this was in the public domain. People got onboard like crazy. In fact, some predicted that it would rise to about 30,00 USD by end of 2018. The manipulators prey on the ignorance of the gullible population (like yourself) and suddenly dump the stock/commodity/currency or whatever, to create an illusion that the price is suddenly changing direction; much to the dismay of many who rush to also dump their stocks without caring to find out the fundamentals that are influencing the said change in trend. The same manipulators come onboard and buy the same now at very low prices, and they do this in huge sums. Suddenly, the stock/commodity/currency seems to be on a recovery and the same gullible population again starts investing in it and the prices go up thus making the manipulator tons of cash because they are the ones who bought at the lowest price and the cycle continues.
Before the slump, we had weeks of low volatility. This is simple demand and supply. Nothing more. It was bound to break out or down violently. It broke to the downside. Nothing here was unexpected. Manipulation is unexpected, so it wasn’t manipulation.