Su Zhu, the CEO of Three Arrows Capital, thinks that as long as crypto traders continue to do business with derivatives exchanges, you can expect to see more “Bart Simpson” patterns in the Bitcoin price chart.
In a video from Luke Martin’s Coinist Podcast posted to Twitter on June 4, Zhu said the Bart patterns — named after their resemblance to the Simpsons character’s hair — are “definitely” here to stay.
Zhu was responding to the most recent Bitcoin (BTC) volatility on June 1, in which the price shot up 10% to $10,380, remained in the $10k range for several hours, and then dropped back suddenly to the $9,500s.
“Bart Simpson” pattern in BTC
According to the CEO, these movements in Bitcoin price are unique to the cryptocurrency markets due to the volume and interest on derivatives exchanges.
“There’s sort of a bounty put out to be able to liquidate this flow [...] when people see an opportunity, they can come and take advantage of pockets of illiquidity or a way to get the price to move to a certain point.”
Zhu doesn’t think this movement is the result of manipulating the market. “I see it as the fact the vast majority of Bitcoin being held off these exchanges [...] and it’s not being traded around, so a very small amount of the Bitcoin that are out there are moving the price,” Zhu said, concluding: “If that were not there, as a bounty, I think there would be far fewer Barts.”