Crypto: Crypto traders blame bitcoin’s Tuesday tumble partly on glitches at exchanges and a $44 million sale order

A wild day on crypto exchanges is being blamed on a raft of glitches and reports of a big sale that at least one analyst credited for contributing to the downward pressure on digital-asset prices.

Temporary technical trading issues were reported by users of exchanges from Coinbase Global
COIN,
-4.18%
,
the largest U.S. crypto-trading platform, to Hong Kong-based Bitfinex and FTX, as well as rival platforms Gemini and Kraken.

On top of that, an analyst pointed to the big sale of some $44 million in bitcoin on Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange Huobi as amplifying the slump on Tuesday, as many traditional investors in the U.S. returned from a three-day holiday.


via Naeem Aslam

Traditional stock indexes, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.76%

and the S&P 500 index
SPX,
-0.34%
,
and bond markets were closed Monday in observance of Labor Day, but the crypto market never sleeps.

Against that backdrop, bitcoin
BTCUSD,
-1.15%
,
Ether
ETHUSD,
-2.06%

on the Ethereum blockchain and meme asset dogecoin
DOGEUSD,
-1.91%

declined sharply, but recovered somewhat as brave investors bought into the slump.

Even by crypto’s whipsawing standards, Tuesday’s action was a bit unsettling for digital-asset bulls.

“Bitcoin price [was] being hammered…but if you look at the price action more closely you can see that traders have actually bought the dip as the price has bounced near its 50-day [simple moving average],” wrote Naeem Aslam, chief analyst at AvaTrade, in a daily note.

“At the same time, it is important to note that crypto exchanges like Bitfinex have turned off their platforms, possibly crashed, and this is certainly a concern for investors,” the analyst wrote.

At last check, bitcoin was changing hands at $46,920.19, down nearly 10%, while Ether was trading at $3,414.49, off by nearly 14% on CoinDesk.

This post was originally published on Market Watch

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