As the crypto markets tumble in response to the global Corona Virus (COVID-19) epidemic, one specific crypto dipped to record lows on Binance, forcing the traders to blame the exchange for forced liquidations. On Thursday, the price of LINK/USDT futures dropped to $0.0001 USDT forcing a number of liquidations along the way.
Over the past fortnight, LINK bulls have maintained their key support levels even as the crypto world turned bearish. However, following a massive selloff scare on the crypto field as BTC dipped over 30% in a day, LINK dipped to record lows as the open interest on Link/USDT contracts on BINANCE dropped by 57.8%.
This saw the community protest against Binance exchange claiming the move to 0.0001 USDT was a malfunction or caused by incompetence by the exchange.
Dear @cz_binance,
We are able to put buy orders only 5x below market price.
Who is able to put this buy order at $0.0001 for LINK?
Yourself? @binance pic.twitter.com/F66mAEONh8
— Kooter (@fidelcashfloo) March 12, 2020
The rants and complaints of Binance users were swiftly answered by the exchange’s top boss, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, on Twitter, on Thursday evening.
CZ offers response: “We don’t cancel user orders”
According to CZ Binance, the exchange dealt prudently with the buy order set at $0.0001 USDT. He wrote on Twitter,
“Just checked, the buy order was put in 2019-01-16, the first day the LINK/USDT pair was added. We didn’t have the price band restrictions back then.”
He further explained that the orders placed on Binance are final with no trade interference from their dev team. He said,
“We don’t cancel user orders.”
In fact, this particular order was put in 8 seconds after the live trading on that pair. When we first list a new pair, the price band restrictions don't work because there is no price in our system for that pair. The price band is only enabled after the price stabilizes. pic.twitter.com/TPRfrGMqUJ
— CZ Binance ?????? (@cz_binance) March 12, 2020
Furthermore, CZ said the exchange is now clear of the arbitrage opportunities that arose from the LINK buy order assuring the users that no other Future pairs were affected.
“Even though, this single market sell punched through the buy orders. No other pairs were affected. Futures and Margin are not affected either. Arbitrage traders quickly filled the gap, and all the guys who had low buys made money.”