Is Bitcoin’s Crash Manipulated? What’s Next for the Market

TradingKey – Bitcoin plunged toward the $100,000 mark, triggering widespread liquidations. With key objectives met, a rebound may be on the horizon.

On Saturday, October 11, the U.S. President announced sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports, sparking a stock market meltdown that spilled into crypto. Bitcoin (BTC) dropped more than 15% intraday, briefly approaching the $100,000 threshold.

Bitcoin Price Chart – Source: TradingView

At the same time, cross-chain and wrapped assets like WBETH and BNSOL, along with stablecoins such as USST, experienced severe depegging. Major exchanges including Coinbase (COIN) and Binance (BNB) suffered latency issues, preventing users from adding margin in time — resulting in mass liquidations. Both platforms issued brief statements saying their teams were monitoring the situation and prioritizing user safety.

More extreme anomalies were seen in altcoins: ATOM nearly went to zero, hitting $0.001 on Binance, while IOTX momentarily dropped to $0 before recovering to $0.01.

Although the crypto crash was largely triggered by macro events, market observers aren’t ruling out deliberate manipulation—especially targeted liquidation of large leveraged positions, a common tactic in crypto. Investors are advised not to panic.

Bitcoin has not breached the $100,000 support level, which has held firm for the past three months. If a second retest confirms this floor, analysts expect a rebound, potentially setting the stage for a recovery rally.