Ethereum leads another crypto carnage: Is Bitmex behind the fall?

Ethereum investors smell price manipulation and the blame falls on the exchange that runs huge margins of over 100X. This comes following a comment from the CEO of Bitmex exchange, Arthur Hayes who seemed to have advised customers in an official account belonging to the company to short the second largest crypto by market capitalization.

The message from Hayes tells investors to “punt” on ETH/USD price. He later added that “you never need to touch that shitcoin called Ether.” While the word punt has several meanings Hayes went ahead and informed his followers on Twitter of the margin trading currently available for ETH/USD. He stated:

“50x leveraged ETHUSD perpetual swap is now live! Trade using only Bitcoin, you never have to touch Ether or USD.”

Ethereum price wild tailspin

Ethereum price intensified the speed to the bottom on Wednesday, although it had found a short-term support at $190 on Tuesday. The digital asset has shed at least 40% of its value at the beginning of the month. Prior to the declines the kicked off last week, Ethereum was unable to correct above $300 but a support at $280 was holding ground just fine.

The unexpected tailspin sent the crypto towards $150 but form a low at $168.57 before the bulls entered. ETH/USD is trading at $173 as it seeks a support above $170. Technical indicators are slightly bullish but the momentum is too weak to retrace above $180. Ethereum buyers need to recover above $200 in order to separate themselves from the current selling pressure.

ETH/USD 4-hour chart