Recent volatility in Bitcoin's (BTC) price has sparked debate among crypto investors. On December 29th, BTC briefly exceeded $90,000 before quickly retracing, leading to accusations of market manipulation. Some traders pointed to repetitive patterns in the price action, suggesting a "push through the book, harvest stops and late momentum, then fade it back" sequence. Analysis of Binance's cumulative volume delta indicates aggressive buying followed by aggressive selling, with price returning to its starting point. Similar patterns were observed across other exchanges like Bitstamp and Bybit, suggesting a fragile, overleveraged market susceptible to stop-hunting. While the data doesn't identify the actors involved, it highlights the potential for market manipulation in the current environment.

Recent volatility in Bitcoin's (BTC) price has sparked debate among crypto investors. On December 29th, BTC briefly exceeded $90,000 before quickly retracing, leading to accusations of market manipulation. Some traders pointed to repetitive patterns in the price action, suggesting a "push through the book, harvest stops and late momentum, then fade it back" sequence. Analysis of Binance's cumulative volume delta indicates aggressive buying followed by aggressive selling, with price returning to its starting point. Similar patterns were observed across other exchanges like Bitstamp and Bybit, suggesting a fragile, overleveraged market susceptible to stop-hunting. While the data doesn't identify the actors involved, it highlights the potential for market manipulation in the current environment.