Traders blamed Binance for Bitcoin's slide, but CoinGlass data points to Coinbase
In brief
- Bitcoin fell from $81,188 on Nov. 4 to $61,956 on Nov. 14, per CoinGlass data.
- Coinbase spot CVD reached -$1.08 billion between Oct. 31 and Nov. 15.
- OKX, Bybit and Binance spot CVD stayed positive over the same period.
- Fundstrat's Tom Lee called the drawdown a temporary rotation of money into mega-IPOs.
What the CVD data shows
Cumulative volume delta (CVD) measures the gap between market buy and market sell volume. When it's negative, sellers were the more active side on that exchange.
On Coinbase, spot CVD hit -$1.08 billion between Oct. 31 and Nov. 15, according to CoinGlass. Other exchanges show the opposite. Over the same window, spot CVD on OKX, Bybit and Binance stood at $240.3 million, $65.17 million and $51.88 million respectively (net buying on all three), and Binance's spot CVD has stayed positive since Oct. 31.
The steepest drop in Coinbase's CVD came between Nov. 10 and Nov. 14, which is also when Bitcoin slipped below $70,000, CoinGlass data shows.
That's U.Today's reading of the numbers, and it doesn't tell us who the sellers were or why they sold.
Why Binance took the blame
Binance is the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, and a large share of futures liquidations happen on the platform. Liquidations were heavy. On Nov. 13, exchanges liquidated 187,389 traders for a total of $1.65 billion in 24 hours, with 88% of that coming from long positions, per CoinGlass.
A lot of the finger-pointing landed in the replies to a post from Binance's founder. Changpeng Zhao shared a comparison of Bitcoin charts ahead of the SpaceX and Anthropic IPOs and called it "an interesting analysis," U.Today reported.
Several users replying to Zhao blamed the drop on selling by Binance. Those claims haven't been verified (and Binance's spot CVD stayed positive throughout the period).
The IPO rotation view
Coinbase is the custodian for most U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, including BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, and many U.S. institutional investors trade through Coinbase Prime, U.Today noted. The outlet also reported that Anthropic is set to start trading on Nasdaq on Nov. 19, with the Coinbase selling coming ahead of that listing. Bitcoin has lost around 18% in the 50 days before the Anthropic IPO, per the same report.
Fundstrat managing partner Tom Lee has called the recent drawdown a temporary rotation of money into mega-IPOs. Bitcoin recovered to around $65,400 on Sunday.
Frequently asked questions
What is cumulative volume delta (CVD) and what does a negative reading mean?
CVD measures the difference between market buy volume and market sell volume on an exchange. A negative CVD means sellers were more active than buyers. CoinGlass data cited by U.Today shows Coinbase spot CVD at -$1.08 billion between Oct. 31 and Nov. 15.
Did Binance's spot market show net selling during Bitcoin's drop?
No, according to CoinGlass data reported by U.Today. Binance's spot CVD has stayed positive since Oct. 31 and stood at $51.88 million over the Oct. 31 to Nov. 15 period. OKX and Bybit also showed positive spot CVD over the same window.
