Bitcoin unexpectedly jumped from around $91,000 to over $94,000 within just two hours during Tuesday’s U.S. trading session, catching many investors off guard. While some celebrated the abrupt rally, others warned that it might be a textbook example of a coordinated market pump.
Key Highlights
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BTC gained more than $3,000 in two hours with no clear catalyst.
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On-chain data showed unusual buying activity from Wintermute and several major exchanges.
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Analysts suspect a “liquidity hunting” strategy aimed at liquidating both longs and shorts.
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Nearly $130 million in leveraged positions were wiped out in a single day.
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Some experts argue U.S. employment data—not manipulation—triggered the rally.
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Debate intensifies on whether this was a genuine move or a trap ahead of the FOMC meeting.
No Catalyst in Sight, Yet Tens of Millions Flowed In
Crypto trader Vivek Sen noted that there were no major announcements or market events strong enough to justify such a sharp move. The lack of a clear catalyst sparked suspicions that the spike was more engineered than organic.
On-chain analysts quickly detected irregular flows. According to researcher DeFiTracer, market maker Wintermute purchased $68 million worth of Bitcoin in just one hour during the rally. Other analysts such as DefiWimar reported that multiple heavyweight entities — including Coinbase, BitMEX, and Binance — executed large, seemingly coordinated buy orders, describing the activity as “organized manipulation.”
Veteran trader NoLimitGains highlighted several red flags:
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Thin order books that made it easier to push prices upward
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Large market buys clustered within minutes
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No sustained buying after the initial spike
He argued that genuine bullish moves create market structure, while manipulated ones create traps.
Liquidity Hunting: The Most Talked-About Scenario
The strongest suspicion revolves around a tactic known as liquidity hunting — where large players intentionally move the market toward clusters of liquidation levels.
By pushing BTC’s price sharply upward, they can force short positions to liquidate, causing a chain reaction of forced buying. This buying pressure amplifies the rally, allowing the orchestrators to sell into artificially inflated demand.
Trader Orbion noted that the day saw:
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$70 million in long liquidations,
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$61 million in short liquidations,
— wiping out both sides within hours.
NoLimitGains warned that such vertical spikes often retrace quickly, especially when funding rates surge and open interest rises sharply — signs that the market is overheated and vulnerable to reversal.
