Bitcoin is back above $20,000 after seeing some relief during the weekend. The number one crypto by market cap dropped below its 2017 all-time high as selling pressure increased driven by the current macro-economic environment. Related Reading | Bitcoin Derivatives Exchange Reserve Surges Up As BTC Continues To Plunge At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) trades at $20,500 with a 6% profit in the last 24 hours. The last seven days record a different story with a 24% loss. Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes claims an institutional forced seller triggered the increase in selling pressure. An entity that was forced to liquidate its positions as BTC’s price trended further downside. Hayes believes that Canada’s Bitcoin Purpose Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) was potentially responsible for the downside price action. The investment vehicle is settled by physical BTC and, according to Purpose, when a client buys the ETF, they are buying “real Bitcoin”. The former BitMEX CEO claimed he is unfamiliar with this ETF’s redemption process. However, the investment vehicle appears to have dumped 24,500 BTC into the market, as seen below. This represents almost 50% of the ETF’s assets, if the BTC was sold in a rush, it seems logical that Bitcoin lost support at around $20,000 and was forced to trade lower with the rest of the crypto market. Buyers showed up and absorbed the downside price action. This enabled Bitcoin to reclaim the $20,000 area ...
