Bitcoin Order Spreads Exceed 10% Amid The Brutal March Crash

The over the counter (OTC) market is in the crypto news again, showing movements upwards which is nice at this point. The OTC liquidity provider B2C2 recently published a report, showing that the Bitcoin order spreads exceed 10% amid the brutal crash we have witnessed on March 13th last month.

The report is analyzing the trading spreads exhibited across the Bitcoin (BTC) market and three leading institution-facing spot exchanges throughout March. We can also see that spreads widened significantly amid the dramatic crash of March 12 and 13 – marking the largest drop in the price of Bitcoin since 2013.

Knowing that the crash began on March 12, the bid-ask spreads for batches of 25 BTC bounced from close to single-digit basis points to 200 on its platform. This equated to roughly 5%. In the report, we can also see that the spreads are exceeding 10% on one of the top spot exchanges during the previous month.

The Bitcoin news now show that the analysis pictures extreme volatility for trades on batches of 100 Bitcoin (BTC) each. Multiple exchanges are seeing spreads of 400 basis points or higher throughout the crash.

Additionally, retail markets also saw the Bitcoin order spreads between 5% and 10% as the cascading liquidations drove the violent price swings and hollowed the order books. Despite this change, the levels of OTC trades during March 12 and 13 saw record activity from retail traders. As one report showed, around 75.9 billion worth of trade took place across the retail facing spot BTC markets. The report also notes a new record for the monthly Bitcoin derivatives which are trading at $600 million.

Additionally, the major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase also came out with a report, showing record breaking trade activity on its retail platform during the drop. The Bitcoin volume increasing to six times its monthly average and altcoins increasing by a factor of seven.

What’s also impressive is the fact that the Bitcoin order spreads drove record on-chain activity. Unchained Capital’s “Hodlwaves” estimated that 3.9% of the circulating supply of 717,340 BTC moved in 24 hours amid the crash.

Today, we can see the Bitcoin (BTC) price moving above $7,270 on the day. Even though there are minimal decreases, the BTC price is stable as it proceeds today. Ethereum (ETH) has moved by 2.22% on the downward line, while Bitcoin SV (BSV) has been a winner in the top 10, surging by 9.65% now at a new price of $209.