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.
Bitcoin Price Slides Below $11,500 in Rapid Pullback
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.
Bart Simpson Pattern Wreaks Havoc on Crypto Bulls
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.
Plz stop Bart ??#BITCOIN #CRYPTO pic.twitter.com/t4sJmz83hn
— CRYPTOTIPSFR (@cryptotipsfr) August 7, 2019
Though not always the case, “Bart” formations sometimes indicate whales manipulating the market at the expense of retail traders.
Click here for a real-time bitcoin price chart.