Algo Bug On Bitcoin Price Made Me Shit My Pants

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PARIS, FRANCE - OCTOBER 21: In this photo illustration, a visual representation of the digital Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is on display in front of the Bitcoin course's graph on October 21, 2021 in Paris, France. The value of Bitcoin (BTC) has exceeded the threshold of 66,895 dollars for the first time in his history. Cryptocurrency, which traded for less than a dollar 12 years ago, peaked on Thursday at around $ 66,895, its all-time high. Bitcoin has increased by over 50% over one month and over 450% over one year. (Photo illustration by Chesnot/Getty Images)

Like most of you I have a little bit of weight in Bitcoin. I got in when it was around $33,000 in late-June, road out the slow climb up through the late-summer, and had been testing my patience on when I would exit as it approached $60,000 — which was when I initially told myself I would sell.

Anyways, it hit that $60k last Friday and everything I read said to keep holding… so I did.

This morning I woke up and saw that the price was $8,200. And I almost threw up. Literally.

For the non-math majors, that was nearly an 82% drop from market value and would have taken me from a very big win to a gutwrenching loss.

Thank fvcking goodness that within a minute or two — which felt like an hour or two of refreshing — it immediately went back up. Had I not been paralyzed with fear, maybe I would have been smart enough to try and buy more… but, that did not happen.

Anyways, everything went back to normal in pretty short order, but here was the explanation.

“One of our institutional traders indicated to us that they had a bug in their trading algorithm, which appears to have caused the sell-off,” Binance.US said in an emailed statement. “We are continuing to look into the event, but understand from the trader that they have now fixed their bug and that the issue appears to have been resolved.”

According to the Binance.US website, volume on the exchange in that minute of trading was 592.8 Bitcoin, which would have been worth just shy of $40M at current price.

Anyways, now that the price is hovering close to $65k, I am not sure how long I can hold out — especially in the grips of panic after seeing what my balance was and then what it dropped to. Fvck, I can’t handle it if that swing actually happens.

21+. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. T&Cs apply.

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