The cryptocurrency market faced a sharp downturn as Bitcoin's price fell to an intraday low of $63,177, erasing approximately $157 million in long positions within 24 hours. This decline followed a brief rally fueled by revelations of alleged price suppression by market maker Jane Street, which had initially sparked bullish sentiment among traders.
The narrative of market manipulation gained prominence after reports surfaced that Jane Street had been systematically selling Bitcoin daily around 10 a.m. EST to cap its price. Bitwise ETF advisor Jeff Park commented that without this alleged manipulation, Bitcoin might have reached $150,000. The exposure of these trading practices led to a midweek rally of over 6%, as investors anticipated freer price action.
However, this optimism proved short-lived. Bitcoin failed to sustain its upward momentum, cracking late Friday and dropping to $66,000 before plunging further to $63,000 on Saturday. Data from CoinGlass shows total liquidations exceeding $186 million in 24 hours, with longs accounting for 86% ($157 million) of the losses. Open interest remained high at $44 billion, but funding rates turned negative on major exchanges like Binance and Bybit, indicating bearish sentiment.
Adding to the market's fragility, escalating geopolitical tensions between Iran and the United States intensified volatility. The broader crypto market dropped 2.7% to a total capitalization of $2.28 trillion, with Bitcoin's market cap shrinking to $1.28 trillion. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost highlighted panic selling in derivatives, with sell volume spiking to $1.8 billion in one hour at the peak of fear.
In a related development, Jeff Park, CIO of ProCap Financial, addressed community claims of deliberate price suppression by Wall Street. While acknowledging that Bitcoin ETFs provide significant liquidity through institutional participation, he noted this comes at a cost. Park explained that Authorized Participants (APs) and market makers operate under exemptions from "Reg SHO" rules, allowing them to short assets without owning them—a powerful arbitrage tool. However, he disagreed with sensational headlines accusing Wall Street of deliberately driving down Bitcoin's price, attributing current price movements largely to actual spot selling by long-term investors.
