You heard it right—BTC indeed once dropped to $24,000.

This happened in a certain USD trading pair, just yesterday. The price was hammered down, but what was the real reason behind it? People in the community are buzzing.

Some say it was clearly manipulation. Large insiders pre-arranged short positions, and when liquidity was low, they dumped the market, wiping out retail traders and small longs at the bottom—this is a tactic even seasoned traders are familiar with.

But there's also another possibility: a major player placed a huge sell order on the order book. It could be a genuine sell-off or just a scare tactic. The problem is, such a level of sell order could trigger a chain liquidation in the market. As soon as long positions loosen even slightly, stop-loss orders jump in, causing an even sharper downward plunge.

In short, this wave of volatility directly cleared out many contract positions.