Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $10,000 on Feb. 10 as sudden volatility saw markets abandon five figures just a day after reaching them.
Data from Coin360 and CryptoX Markets showed BTC/USD dipping to lows of $9,850 at press time, followed by a bounce-back up to $10,000 and subsequent fluctuation in the upper $9,900 range.
Bitcoin 1-day price chart. Source: Coin360
“Mild” dip fills CME futures gap
The move coincided with the start of a fresh week of trading on futures markets, with Bitcoin filling a “gap” left at the end of trading on Friday.
Specifically, CME Group’s futures finished last week at around $9,850 — currently, exactly the level to which BTC/USD fell on Monday.
Rising and falling to hit empty patches in futures is a common feature for Bitcoin, CryptoX noting various instances over the past year in particular which have dictated short-term market movements.
CME Group Bitcoin futures 7-day chart. Source: TradingView
As the price dropped to $9,900, a single buyer on derivatives giant BitMEX purchased over $2 million of BTC in a single transaction, data from monitoring resource WhaleTrades.
Analyzing the situation, CryptoX Markets’ filbfilb noted that despite losing $10,000 support, the extent of the latest losses was more notable for its insignificant size.
“This was a fairly mild dip,” he summarized in private comments. “A backtest of the weekend breakout and the CME gap was a high probability.”
“The question is if we can quickly reclaim 10k or need to test lower,” filbfilb concluded.
The overall mood nonetheless appeared buoyant in the wake of the gap fill, with CME futures already trading above $10,000 per Bitcoin once again shortly afterward. Overnight on Sunday, futures saw local highs of $10,350 — their best since mid-September 2019.
