Arthur Hayes, the co-founder and CEO of BitMEX, an exchange where people can margin trade cryptocurrency (also known for highest trading volumes on the market), went on CNBC’s Fast Money where he spoke about the latest Bitcoin pump and other related topics.
According to Mr. Hayes, the recent pump was indeed a result of a “short squeeze”, an event where a sudden pump in the asset price causes a massive liquidation of short positions, which results in said asset’s price rising even further.
“During the pump from $6800 to $7250, in about 15 minutes we liquidated about 250 million USD worth of short positions,” opened Hayes. “Many people entered their positions around the same levels, which is why we probably got a little pop there.”
Twitter user @Broccolex explained the exact volume of transactions in a bit more detail:
“@BitMEXdotcom painted the largest 4hr volume candle ever today. More than 2 billion dollars (2,000,000,000) was traded in a 4 hour time timeframe.” This picture is even more impressive if you consider the fact that US citizens aren’t allowed to trade on BitMEX.
Hayes admitted that their trading volume has been expanded throughout 2018, with their best month coming in March. He confirmed that spot exchanges like Binance have suffered significant drops of volume throughout the latest bear market and feels that a continuation of this rally could lead to an increase in this area.
When asked if he thinks have we seen the worst for Bitcoin this year, Hayes wasn’t very optimistic:
“I don’t actually think we’ve seen the worst. I think this is a very strong rally on good volume and we definitely could see $8000, $9000 and maybe just shy of $10000,” he begins his theory. “We’ve been here before this spring. We rallied from $5800 to high $9000s level but didn’t quite crack 10 thousand. I think similar action will happen this time.” He concludes by saying: “I would like to see us test $5000 to really see if we’ve put a bottom in.”
He was later asked if he expects more volatility in the space, and he confirmed that it’s very possible that we will see it in quarters 3 and 4.
“Through 3rd and 4th quarter, it has generally been a positive time for Bitcoin, because everyone’s come back from their vacations,” concluded Hayes.
