Institutional investors and speculators trading large quantities of bitcoin are taking on a new method to hide the real sizes of their trades. They are doing so – many times with the quiet help of many major exchanges – to cut the risk of exposing their intent to the market, be they bullish or bearish, which can cause unfavorable price moves.
Avi Felman, head of trading at BlockTower, took note of one such trade in the last week of December when someone, or possibly an institution, bought a substantial amount of bitcoin on U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase. However, the order book only showed a constant bid (buy order) for 20-40 bitcoin. Essentially a large quantity was purchased via multiple small orders.
“Somone [sic] (@elonmusk?) has been sitting 20-40 bitcoin on the Coinbase bid and reloading since $26,800,” Felman tweeted on Dec. 31.
Avi Felman
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