Bitcoin’s $5,800 Crash: Unfilled CME Gap Likely Responsible

Bitcoin (BTC) traded haphazardly earlier today, after sharply dropping by $5,800 in just a few hours, after which it recovered modestly. The decline caused the cryptocurrency to fill the recent CME gap at $29,000.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) allows institutional investors to trade BTC on a more regulated platform. However, this platform is open for specific hours during the workweek and remains closed on weekends and official holidays.

That said, the free market is open 24/7 (even on official holidays), which gives rise to what is popularly known as CME gaps. These gaps get formed when the free market rallied significantly—in either direction—over the weekend or on holidays, causing a gap on the CME chart. The New Years’ weekend saw a massive gap between $29k (where it closed on Thursday) and $33.5k when it opened today.

Historically, Bitcoin tends to close such gaps with highly volatile moves, like the one seen today, which caused the benchmark cryptocurrency to fall as far as $27,630.

Worth mentioning is that the cryptocurrency bounced from this decline equally dramatically to the $32,000 area. However, speculators are starting to wonder if this CME-induced correction is over, considering there’s another open gap at the $23,750 area.

Key BTC Levels to Watch — January 4

Bitcoin appears to have fully recovered from its recent crash and is back above our ascending trendline. We can observe that the cryptocurrency has been recording higher lows over the past few hours, indicating that bulls are getting back in control. Also, our MACD indicator shows that it has wandered into oversold territories, making additional gains very likely in the near term.

Meanwhile, our key resistance levels are at $32,000, $32,500, and $33,000. While our key support levels are at $31,000, $30,000 and $29,000.

Total Market Capitalization: $855 billion

Bitcoin Market Capitalization: $586 billion

Bitcoin Dominance: 68.5%

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