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By Omkar Godbole, AI Boost|Edited by Parikshit Mishra
Aug 25, 2025, 4:50 a.m.
- Bitcoin’s price flash crashed on Sunday after a whale reportedly sold 24,000 BTC, reversing gains from Fed Chair Powell’s dovish speech.
- Despite Powell’s speech suggesting potential rate cuts, bitcoin options traders remain cautious, reflecting bearish sentiment and hedging against price declines.
Bitcoin BTC$112,417.07 fell below $111,000 during the overnight trade, reversing Friday’s spike caused by Fed Chair Powell’s dovish speech, as a whale sold into illiquid market conditions.
The cryptocurrency’s price fell by over 2% from $114,666 to $112,546 in under ten minutes to 07:40 UTC. The so-called flash crash occurred when a single whale sold 24,000 BTC, worth over $300 million, according to blockchain data firm Timechainindex.com.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
“This entity liquidated their entire 24,000 balance, sending all of it to Hyperunite. They transferred 12,000 just today and are still actively selling, which is likely contributing to the ongoing price drop,” the firm’s researcher Sani said on X, adding that the whale still holds a total of 152,874 BTC across all associated addresses, including 5,266 BTC.
“The funds originally came from HTX about six years ago and had remained inactive until recent transactions involving one of their addresses containing approximately 24,000 BTC,” Sani noted.
Prices eventually hit lows under $111,000 before recovering to trade near $112,800 as of writing, according to CoinDesk data.
The price drop has erased gains seen after Friday, after the Fed Chair Jerome Powell appeared to support the idea of rate cuts, while playing down the long-term inflationary impact of President Trump’s tariffs during his annual speech at Jackson Hole.
The so-called dovish speech saw BTC rally nearly 4% from $112,500 to $116,900 alongside a risk-on rally in U.S. stocks and the decline in the dollar index.
Over the weekend, the analyst community expressed confidence that a rate cut would occur in September, potentially leading to new all-time highs in bitcoin and ether.
The Deribit-listed bitcoin options reveal a lingering risk aversion, according to data tracked by Amberdata.
Specifically, the 25-delta risk reversals, a measure of investor sentiment comparing calls to puts, continue to trade in the negative territory through the December expiry, reflecting hedging activity and a bearish title.
A negative risk reversal means that put options, which offer insurance against price declines, are more expensive than call options.
In other words, despite the so-called dovish pivot by Powell, BTC options traders continue to price in uncertainty, bracing for a potential downside volatility.
Read more: Asia Morning Briefing: Bitcoin’s ETFs Kill the Transaction Fees, Punishing the Miners More
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
Omkar Godbole is a Co-Managing Editor and analyst on CoinDesk’s Markets team. He has been covering crypto options and futures, as well as macro and cross-asset activity, since 2019, leveraging his prior experience in directional and non-directional derivative strategies at brokerage firms. His extensive background also encompasses the FX markets, having served as a fundamental analyst at currency and commodities desks for Mumbai-based brokerages and FXStreet. Omkar holds small amounts of bitcoin, ether, BitTorrent, tron and dot.
Omkar holds a Master’s degree in Finance and a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation.
“AI Boost” indicates a generative text tool, typically an AI chatbot, contributed to the article. In each and every case, the article was edited, fact-checked and published by a human. Read more about CoinDesk’s AI Policy.
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What to know:
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- Analysts suggest that breaking the $3.30 resistance could lead XRP to reach ambitious targets between $5 and $8.
