<p>It simply is someone with a lot of coins, who sold on the open market and depressed the price (temporarily).  It was an economically unwise decision, since they missed out on the fair market value as you saw.</p>

<p>This is one example of how the <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/8573/1878">Powerful Elite can Thwart Cryptocurrencies.</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T15:45:53.407Z
Maybe it wasn’t only one seller with many coins but many others who had an automated trigger set to sell their coins at a certain low limit (e.g. 550$), which then set of an avalanche of more triggers pulled and so on.
erik
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T21:32:07.870Z
And then a bunch of other people would have their own triggers start another avalanche of buy orders when they see the price has gotten really down, causing it to grow a bit again, prompting another flurry of "buy" orders to try to ride the wave, plus hundreds of bots furiously buying cheaply at BTC-e to sell elsewhere... all of which would cause such "hiccup" in the prices to pass really fast.
Joe Pineda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T21:34:42.257Z
Had it been a sudden spike in prizes rather than the opposite, same thing would've happened - BTC-e is not the only exchange in the world, nor the biggest, and by now there are plenty of bots trying to take advantage of price differentials between markets when they become too large, quickly reducing such differences to the point of unprofitability.
Joe Pineda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T15:40:34.213Z
2014-02-11T15:40:34.213Z
2017-04-13T12:47:33.583Z
makerofthings7
<p>I think it was automated trading bot avalanche.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T19:31:53.243Z
Maybe expand upon this?
John T
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-12T05:42:36.233Z
Yes and no. It was caused by cascading margin calls. When you have a leveraged buy and the price drops, you have to sell the underlying asset to cover the margin call. This causes the price to drop, which can cause other people with similar leveraged buys to suffer margin calls.
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-12T12:50:56.317Z
Does BTC-e even allow margin trading?
LordOfThePigs
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T17:33:06.583Z
2014-02-11T17:33:06.583Z
user60769
<p>At around 10.00AM of 10th Feb, BTC-e had hit the low level of 102 USD/BTC from 700 USD half hour before.</p>

<p>How is it possible at all? And even after such a big dip, how did the market recover and survive?</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/kooKz.png" alt="enter image description here"> </p>

<exchange-rate><btce><charts><market-depth>
How the BTC-e could dive to 102 points (from 700) and the recover back to 700
Uday Sawant
# How the BTC-e could dive to 102 points (from 700) and the recover back to 700

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-11)

At around 10.00AM of 10th Feb, BTC-e had hit the low level of 102 USD/BTC from 700 USD half hour before.

How is it possible at all? And even after such a big dip, how did the market recover and survive?

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/kooKz.png)

**Tags:** exchange-rate, btce, charts, market-depth


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-02-11. Score: 2

It simply is someone with a lot of coins, who sold on the open market and depressed the price (temporarily). It was an economically unwise decision, since they missed out on the fair market value as you saw.

This is one example of how the [Powerful Elite can Thwart Cryptocurrencies.](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/8573/1878)

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Maybe it wasn’t only one seller with many coins but many others who had an automated trigger set to sell their coins at a certain low limit (e.g. 550$), which then set of an avalanche of more triggers pulled and so on.  
> **username_3**: And then a bunch of other people would have their own triggers start another avalanche of buy orders when they see the price has gotten really down, causing it to grow a bit again, prompting another flurry of "buy" orders to try to ride the wave, plus hundreds of bots furiously buying cheaply at BTC-e to sell elsewhere... all of which would cause such "hiccup" in the prices to pass really fast.  
> **username_3**: Had it been a sudden spike in prizes rather than the opposite, same thing would've happened - BTC-e is not the only exchange in the world, nor the biggest, and by now there are plenty of bots trying to take advantage of price differentials between markets when they become too large, quickly reducing such differences to the point of unprofitability.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2014-02-11. Score: 0

I think it was automated trading bot avalanche.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Maybe expand upon this?  
> **username_6**: Yes and no. It was caused by cascading margin calls. When you have a leveraged buy and the price drops, you have to sell the underlying asset to cover the margin call. This causes the price to drop, which can cause other people with similar leveraged buys to suffer margin calls.  
> **username_7**: Does BTC-e even allow margin trading?  

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