Bitcoin Price Spikes to $138K on Binance.US

Bitcoin temporarily surged to as much as $138,000 on crypto exchange Binance.US earlier today in a sudden price wick on the btc/tether trading pair, exchange data shows.

Prices shot up to those levels for a few seconds at 6:50 a.m. UTC before immediately reverting to parity with other bitcoin spot markets. Other trading pairs for bitcoin traded as normal.

The move was unlikely to have been caused by a trader wanting to pay a nearly 450% premium for bitcoin, which currently exchanges hands for just over $29,000 in European morning hours on Wednesday.

Instead, the bizarre wick likely came amid low liquidity for bitcoin against tether on Binance.US. Market depth data shows a $400,000 bitcoin buy on this trading pair can increase prices by 2%, compared to a minimum of $842,000 for the same impact on a bitcoin/USD trade pair.

Market depth refers to the level of liquidity in a financial market. As such, Binance.US’s market depth has dropped 76% compared to May, as per a Kaiko report earlier this month, suggesting market makers and traders have fled from the exchange.