The bitcoin price careened below $11,500 on Wednesday afternoon as a Simpsons-inspired technical formation reared its ugly head – and sapped the momentum out of the crypto market’s rally.
The dominant cryptocurrency had surged past $12,000 shortly after 9:00 am ET, only to relinquish those gains in a vicious sell-off just hours later. Bitcoin took further losses from there, and after rising as high as $12,145 on Bitstamp, BTC slid as far as $11,438 heading into the early afternoon.
BTC has since recovered to $11,685.
The crypto market’s morning bounce accompanied a severe stock market sell-off, as well as newly-published research suggesting that bitcoin and other large cryptocurrencies have formed an inverse correlation with the S&P 500.
However, stock and crypto markets are both in the red right now, with bitcoin down about 0.55%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 0.53%, and the S&P 500 sliding 0.31% for the day.
Bitcoin’s $700 intraday sell-off was accompanied by the return of the always-unwelcome “Bart Simpson ” technical pattern, which occurs when a cryptocurrency’s price spikes, trades sideways with a series of higher lows, and then suddenly collapses back toward its original level.
Armchair traders refer to it as a “Bart” formation since the finished product bears an uncanny resemblance to Bart Simpson’s head.
Though not always the case, “Bart” formations sometimes indicate whales manipulating the market at the expense of retail traders.
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