Everyone,
I'd just like to point out that if we did not have stopped the trading engine, the cascading effect of liquidations would have been terrible (just look at the charts already).
So we DID make the right choice in halting the trading engine to avoid this situation by letting price calm down a bit.
One day the Bitcoin market will become mature enough to support this level of volume, right now it isn't;
THanks for your comprehension
Raphael
I just like to point out that it is the responsibility of the margin traders to know and own the risks of margin trading, including the limitations of BFX trading engine. If the market crashes and their positions are liquidated, they will just need to accept it.
Regarding the BTC liquidity issue at Bitstamp, I think that it is not acceptable. Yes, it is challenging to estimate the number of BTC kept at Bitstamp. But does it mean that everytime there is a crash, BFX needs to halt trading?
What I really am interested to know is: If a crash of this scale happens again, should we expect BFX to halt trading? No doubt the answer will affect our trading strategy.
Guys,
Even if there was enough BTC on our Bitstamp account, trading would have been halted. Why? Because we would also have "wiped out" Bitstamp orderbook with the cascade of liquidations that were just about to happened. So it's not a matter of having enough funds where or whatever, it's a matter of an illiquid market that became very volatile, and millions of dollars of leveraged positions that would either evaporate or be preserved by calming things down.
If you think you have undue losses because of the halting of trading, please write to
support@bitfinex.com and your case will be examined within a few DAYS.
Thank you for your comprehension,
Raphael
Bitfinex team