BTC price fluctuates wildly due to fake posts from SEC account – nearly $100 million liquidated | CoinDesk JAPAN

From the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) X accountseries of fake postsBitcoin (BTC) long and short positions worth approximately $90 million (approximately 13 billion yen, equivalent to 145 yen = 1 dollar) were liquidated due to price fluctuations, illustrating the manipulative risks associated with the industry.

Hackers took control of the SEC’s X account on January 9th and used it to post that the long-awaited Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) had been approved. He then posted “$BTC” but both posts were quickly deleted.

The post immediately sent Bitcoin’s price soaring from around $46,800 to $47,680. It was later revealed to be a fake, and the price dropped to $45,400.

However, investors and bots were quick to react to the post. More than $500 million in futures positions were created in the 10 minutes after the first post, according to the data, but the highly leveraged positions were hurt by the wild swings in Bitcoin prices. About $50 million (about 7.25 billion yen) of longs were liquidated, and about $36 million (about 5.22 billion yen) of shorts were affected.

After the SEC fake post, open interest skyrocketed. (Coinglass)

Liquidation refers to the forced closing of a trader’s leveraged position by an exchange due to the loss of some or all of the trader’s initial margin. This occurs when a trader is unable to meet the margin requirements for a leveraged position (does not have enough funds to continue trading).

Such data is useful to traders because it serves as a signal that leverage is effectively being flushed out of popular futures products.

A decision on the 13 proposed Bitcoin ETFs is expected to be made on January 10th, with Bloomberg analysts pegging the probability of approval at over 90%, and crypto market speculators pegging it higher. The target is 85%.

On the other hand, some crypto market participants have criticized the SEC’s seemingly lax security measures to protect their accounts, saying that financial regulatorsUnable to protect social accountsSo how can a $1 trillion market be protected?

-SEC manipulating markets.
-SEC talking about crypto scams but cant secure their own social medias

This has to be a freaking joke.
Someones ought to take responsibility

— Rahim Mahtab (@Rahim_mahtab) January 9, 2024

｜Translation: CoinDesk JAPAN
｜Edited by: Toshihiko Inoue
｜Image: Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk
｜Original: Fake Bitcoin ETF Approval Tweet Causes $90M in Liquidations