Crypto Crash Is A Forced Crypto Seller Unwind, Glassnode Co-Founders Claim
Glassnode co-founders Jan Happel and Yann Allemann, who publish below the @Negentropic deal with on X, argue that the present crypto crash is being pushed not by a broad narrative flip, however by a single, systematic supply of promote stress whose footprint is most seen in Bitcoin and is spilling into the broader advanced. Their core assertion is categorical: “What’s taking place in Bitcoin proper now isn’t a story shift: it’s a mechanical unwind.” In that framing, the tape is reflecting the compelled exit of 1 participant somewhat than an natural repricing of crypto threat.
Why Is The Crypto Market Crashing?
Negentropic’s thesis begins with momentum indicators behaving in methods they are saying are inconsistent with “pure markets.” They word that “the 1D MACD simply printed a brand new all-time low… but value is simply down ~33% from the highs,” and add, “This doesn’t occur in pure markets. You solely get this when somebody is dumping in a straight line.”
They pair that commentary with capitulation-like oscillators that aren’t accompanied by the same old macro or leverage shock. As they put it, RSI is close to capitulation, “however there’s no macro stress, no credit score shock, no leverage detonation, no ETF outflows.” The mismatch issues to their conclusion: “It’s excessive momentum with no catalyst: basic signature of mechanical promoting.”
They then distinction as we speak’s setup with prior episodes the place MACD and RSI reached related extremes. In these historic circumstances, Negentropic says, “Price was down 60%, derivatives have been blowing out, funding was deeply detrimental.” By distinction, their learn of the current is that confirming stress isn’t there. “ETFs stay internet constructive, their value foundation remains to be intact,” they write, they usually emphasize that “long-term holders are eradicating provide aggressively.”
They additionally level to cross-crypto resilience: “Solana ETF inflows are regular, altcoins are holding up comparatively effectively vs btc & eth,” and “eth is holding stronger than btc.” For Negentropic, these relative-strength alerts are the inform that this isn’t a systemwide risk-off occasion. “If this have been actual sentiment, all of that may be breaking. It isn’t,” they conclude.
Flow regularity is the opposite pillar of the Glassnode co-founders’ case. They describe a sample that they are saying has repeated since October 10: “Same timestamps, similar venue-specific thinness, similar lack of reflexive bids.” The implication is mechanical intent somewhat than discretionary buying and selling. “It’s a schedule, not a market,” they write, claiming “21 days of constant poisonous movement.” That sequence, of their view, aligns with “one rationalization”: “a liquidity supplier or fund was structurally damaged on October 10th,” and “the entity tied to that failure has been decreasing threat in a compelled, rules-based method.”
Independent tape watchers are describing a remarkably related cadence. Front Runners (@frontrunnersx) stories that a big vendor on Binance has been hitting the market with clock-like consistency. Over “two weeks straight,” they are saying, the entity “hit the promote button precisely at 9:30 EST, each US market open, with out fail.”
They add that “sort of consistency normally factors to a complicated actor working below particular mandates or time home windows,” and that it seems “much less like random movement and extra like a single entity (or a tightly-coordinated group).”
Macro analyst Alex Krüger expands on how that might manifest throughout venues. He suggests the vendor may very well be “dumping throughout US hours through a dealer or OTC desk that employs good order routing or hedging methods throughout a number of venues.” In his view, the dominance of Binance prints doesn’t require Binance to be the origin. “Most quantity naturally” would movement there, he argues, “because it’s the place the majority of the liquidity resides.”
Krüger additionally highlights venue asymmetries that match a routed-flow story: he has seen “comparatively little spot promoting routed through Coinbase this week,” whereas noting “extraordinary ranges of spot promoting through Bitfinex.”
Will The Crypto Crash Be Short-Lived?
Delphi Ventures founding associate Tommy Shaughnessy focuses on the urgency implied by the tempo. If the movement has been current since 10/10, he writes, “the velocity at which they’re promoting BTC is fairly loopy.” He interprets that as compulsion somewhat than technique: “Means they’re value insensitive and must exit, quick.” Shaughnessy characterizes the transfer as “violent,” however provides a key qualifier per Negentropic’s finite-seller framing: it’s probably “brief lived as a result of it’s not orderly.”
If there’s a physique from 10/10 the velocity at which they’re promoting $BTC is fairly loopy
Means they’re value insensitive and must exit, quick. (Someone had that chart of all purple candles for days)
Violent however means it’s hopefully brief lived as a result of it’s not orderly https://t.co/kaJAKh5Z4M
— Tommy (@Shaughnessy119) November 21, 2025
Multicoin Capital founder Tushar Jain likewise describes what he sees as compelled liquidation habits. “It appears like an enormous compelled vendor is available in the market,” he writes, including, “We are seeing systematic promoting throughout particular hours.” Jain explicitly ties this to the identical October window Negentropic flags, calling it “in all probability a consequence of 10/10 liquidations,” and says it’s “laborious to think about this scale of compelled promoting continues for for much longer.”
He additionally situates the second inside an extended unwind course of, recalling a lesson from prior cycles: “it takes a while for all of the bankruptcies to disclose themselves after an enormous liquidation flush like this,” as a result of “retailers are operating round attempting to determine what their publicity to bancrupt counterparties is.”
It appears like an enormous compelled vendor is available in the market. We are seeing systematic promoting throughout particular hours. Probably a consequence of 10/10 liquidations. Hard to think about this scale of compelled promoting continues for for much longer. https://t.co/JO6kRmJUUb
— Tushar Jain (@tushar_jain) November 19, 2025
Taken collectively, the sources are presenting a coherent, internally constant learn: crypto’s draw back is being dominated by a single, time-boxed, price-insensitive vendor whose execution sample is systematic sufficient to warp momentum indicators and intraday construction.
Negentropic’s backside line shouldn’t be merely descriptive however interpretive: “This shouldn’t be capitulation. This shouldn’t be a pattern break.” It is, as an alternative, “a constrained unwinding by way of a fractured market.” And as a result of mechanical sellers finish when stock or mandate ends, the Glassnode co-founders argue that when it does, “the rebound will probably be far sharper than the decline that preceded it.”
At press time, the whole crypto market cap was at $2.83 trillion.
