Flipside Crypto - Making Sense of May 19 Volatility

Making Sense of May 19 Volatility

How did the crypto chaos of May 19 impact gas prices and transaction loads? We take a closer look at a tough day for transaction fees and a busy one for whales.

We’re back to taking a closer look at mid-May’s bear market blues. 

We previously examined the volatility and chaos in the market last month as prices for tokens around the ecosystem fell, and fell hard. Then, it was all about rapidly declining values for meme tokens, big spikes in liquidations, and massive token inflows on CEXes and DEXes alike.

But how did all this chaos play out for traders? Well, as @BlumbergKellen shows us with labeled on-chain data via Velocity, May 19 was a tough day for transaction fees and a busy one for whales.

Gas goes sky-high ⛽

The chaos started fairly early in the morning on May 19, at least for American traders. At roughly 9 AM ET, there was a massive spike in transaction fees.

That spike would leave ripples that resounded throughout the day, with average transaction fees a new high for May.

Whale’s tales 🐋

Why were gas fees so high you ask? Well, because as prices dropped around the crypto ecosystem, traders, especially whales, rushed to get their funds out and avoid being liquidated. 

As we can see in the chart below, May 19 saw a massive jump in whale activity, with the number of high-value transactions (here defined as those worth more than $100,000) climbing 30% higher than its previous peak

Safe to say that May 19 was a day that most crypto traders won’t be forgetting any time soon. 

Want to take a deeper look at the on-chain data for that fateful day, or see real-time data for several protocols and coins? Join Flipside Crypto on Discord, follow on Twitter, and subscribe to the Bounty Brief to keep up with all of our data and analysis.

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