Yesterday has been a day that turned out to be brutal even for the hardcore believers and HODlers. Bitcoin was in free fall as the price tanked to $3,850, the new 2020 low last seen in early March 2019.

In a matter of 4 hours, Bitcoin price went from $6,000s to $3,000s while it took 2 weeks for the price to have the same route in 2018.

In the opposite scenario, again in an hour, the price was back from $3,000s to $5,000s while last year it took a full week.

This heightened volatility also resulted in record volume on cryptocurrency exchanges.

#bitcoin saw record trading volumes on the day. In the figure below we diagram XBT/USD trading volume across the leading global digital currency exchanges over time. pic.twitter.com/TuXnUkpw5S

— TradeBlock (@TradeBlock) March 13, 2020

Be greedy when others are fearful?

A spectacular ‘buy the dip' opportunity came in after a single 1-day candle the price of the digital asset dropped 40% that hasn’t happened since 2014. However, with the crypto market in “extreme fear” with a reading of 10 on a 1-100 scale of Crypto Fear and Greed Index, investors are fearful of marching in and following Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s

“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”

The BTC price action today even shook one of the strongest hodler i know.
And he has been hodling since 2009 (and still is).
It's insane

— Squeeze (@cryptoSqueeze) March 13, 2020

For now, the price of the leading digital asset has climbed above $5,000 and hovering around $5,500, still down 30% in 2020 so far while managing $1.89 billion on top ten exchanges with real volume.

“Bitcoin just closed its largest daily range % & worst performing day since 2016. Taking the 10 largest daily ranges, next day range average out to 16.41% indicating high volatility following these extreme days. 1-2 day returns are + following down days & – following up days,” noted Market Science.

9.8 million BTC in Loss

Popular crypto derivatives exchanges BitMEX, that offers leverage of 100x, is reportedly the perpetrators behind this carnage. Amidst the cascading liquidations on the exchange, bitcoin found the bottom as trader Jonny Moe notes, “Literally -to the minute- of BitMEXgoing down, BTC immediately began its recovery. What a coincidence.”

In the traditional markets, a 7% drop in the price of the benchmark index triggers a halt which in the past few days have been hit several times but in the cryptocurrency market, it only means finding a new low after anther and getting REKT, highlighting the need for regulatory clarity and oversight in the space all the much more.

Besides the “true liquidations,” these extreme losses were also “100% driven by coronavirus (Covid-19)” and to some extent by US President Donald Trump, ECB, and the Fed that “delivered squat and crashed the market,” said economist and trader Alex Kruger.

24h BitMex rektometer hit $1 billion. 98.8% of #XBTUSD longs REKT. pic.twitter.com/s7q0ragnKW

— Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) March 13, 2020

This drop in Bitcoin's price also puts more than half of the circulating supply of the flagship cryptocurrency, 9.8 million BTC in loss. This has been the first time in over a year that the percent of Bitcoin supply in profit is less than 50 percent, as per Glassnode.