Bitcoin briefly printed $24,111 on Binance’s BTC/USD1 trading pair on Christmas Day, then snapped back above $87,000 within seconds, according to exchange data cited by CoinDesk.
The move was isolated to BTC/USD1 and did not appear on other major BTC pairs, meaning the wick did not represent a broad-market repricing of bitcoin across Binance venues in that moment.
CoinDesk attributed the dislocation to thin liquidity, noting the effect can be amplified when fewer active traders are online during quieter hours, a setup consistent with holiday trading conditions.
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The anomalous trade was on USD1, described as a stablecoin pair that later normalized, with bitcoin returning to prevailing levels. CoinDesk characterized the wick as a market-structure event on a newer or less-traded stablecoin pair, where market-making depth can be limited.
Mechanically, CoinDesk outlined how a single large market sell, a liquidation, or an automated trade routed through the pair can rapidly sweep bids in a shallow order book.
CoinDesk also listed non-flow explanations that can create abrupt prints without broader follow-through, including temporary pricing issues tied to spread widening, faulty quotes from a market maker, or trading bots reacting to abnormal prints.
A social post by Chain Cartel framed the episode as a deliberate “engineered wick,” arguing that during thin liquidity, timed selling can push price just long enough to trigger stops, liquidate leverage, and fill deep bids, with the market recovering once forced selling is absorbed.
“You need to stop staring at candles and start watching flows,” the account wrote.
A Binance Square post offered a more mechanical read, arguing the $24,111 wick was a pair-specific liquidity dislocation on BTC/USD1 rather than a marketwide bitcoin move. It claimed USD1 inflows tied to a promotional yield push left BTC/USD1 relatively thin, a single market sell then swept the shallow bids, and arbitrage bots quickly bought the mispricing back to parity, with the broader bitcoin market unaffected because the move did not propagate across major pairs.
Information for this story was found via CoinDesk and the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
