Bitcoin Gold Is Held Captive by Whale With Almost Half the Supply

Bitcoin Gold's price is being manipulated by a whale controlling close to half of the circulating supply.

He published his findings in a blog post, where he explained why he believes a single group of people accumulated their way into a huge Bitcoin Gold position, and are now using that supply to control the market.

In Bitcoin Gold's case, the strong increase in margin positions was accompanied by lackluster price action.

The analyst also conducted a manual analysis of the average entry price for the whale.

In early January, Bitcoin Gold's price rose in consecutive moves by up to 200%, from $5 to $15. Margin positions dropped precipitously just as the upward move was complete.

No major announcements were posted at the time on Bitcoin Gold's Twitter account, which highlights the potential for fabricated price action.

The price was held back from rising due to a powerful "Sell wall" on Bitfinex, around $15. The increased activity on Bithumb led the analyst to conclude that the whale could be Korean, as the exchange requires a national Social Security Number to create an account.

"Bitfinex acts as a suppression mechanism; every time the price tries to increase on Binance, Bitfinex holds it back. People see the difference, and try to pounce on the arbitrage opportunity. However, by the time people transfer their BTGs from Bitfinex to Binance, the gap has already closed and the prices equalize."

As shown in the picture below, candles on Bitfinex have a "Clean cut" around $13.8, while the price on Binance clearly moved past the barrier.

"If the price rises too fast, it's destined to downtrend for an extended period as people gradually take profits and there is no-one to buy up the increasing supply hitting the market."