On Friday, July 8th, Capo of Crypto, a famous crypto analyst called out two centralized platforms for spoofing Bitcoin and Ethereum prices. Capo told his 400K+ Twitter followers that the Kraken exchange and FTX have been manipulating prices on their platforms.
According to Capo, the recent bounces in crypto prices are not actual buy signals. They are mere bull traps set up to fill sell orders at higher levels. He further warned his followers that the market is still bearish and traders should not get carried away by the slight pump.
Is the Crypto Market Manipulated?
As it stands, Capo’s claims are yet to be completely verified. However, crypto veterans are well aware of the possibility of manipulations. It is not uncommon for prices to vary across various crypto platforms.
Aside from price variations, some dubious exchanges use the data at their fingertips to make unclean profits. In the meantime, Kraken and FTX are yet to defend the heavy claims of market manipulations thrown at them.
The Bears May Not be Done Yet
Capo warned that spoof buy-orders can be withdrawn by the exchanges when a price target has been met. If Capo’s claims are true, crypto traders can expect the opening of heavy sell orders on Kraken, FTX, and some other CEXs.
Putting Capo’s claims aside, the slight relief from the bears experienced in the last few days does not necessarily cement the start of a bull run. Many traders are still waiting on BTC to trade above certain levels before going bullish.
Notably, though, traders are less fearful than they were a month ago. With Bitcoin now above $21K and Ethereum now above $1.2K, the time may just be right for dollar-cost averaging. The current capitalization of the crypto market is about $950 billion and Bitcoin has a 43% dominance.
