Bitcoin Turns Bearish: Best Exchanges To Profit From A Fall

After reaching a high of above $64,000 in April 2021, Bitcoin price fell 35%, turning sentiment sharply bearish. The change in the trend has been due to Elon Musk’s outspoken energy concerns, risk appetite turning, and regulatory concerns. Combined with a massive amount of investors in enormous profit, things could get nasty quickly.

There’s also a chance that the bulls aren’t done just yet, and could stage a powerful rebound. But does your trading platform offer all the tools necessary to protect your capital, hedge against a potential downtrend, and profit from whichever way the market turns next?

Which Trading Platforms Let You Short BTC?

Bitcoin has been in a bull market, so investors have been buying every dip and traders going long with each significant pullback. Adding to long positions has been profitable thus far, but the recent reversal in the trend has led to a cascade of liquidations.

Having the option to go long when the bull trend is ready to resume is still necessary, but what traders might want to pay extra attention to now is going short Bitcoin.

Shorting BTC lets traders make money when cryptocurrencies get volatile and begin crashing — holding instead results in as much as 99% losses as past bear phases have shown.

Shorting also lets traders create hedge positions for those that don’t want to sell their coins. Rather than taking profits on all holdings by selling it all, a small portion can be sent to an exchange where a hedge short on leverage can protect capital from any losses suffered on long-term assets held.

Here’s a list of the most popular cryptocurrency trading platforms that allow traders to short Bitcoin.

BitMEX

Once upon a time, BitMEX was the king of the crypto space. During the early 2018 bear market, it was one of the few platforms in the wild that allowed traders to short Bitcoin. And because both the trend and sentiment at the time were extremely bearish, the profits it brought traders earned the platform notoriety.

The platform is still alive and strong today, albeit not the dominant industry leader it once was. New executives are now at the helm, but the cascade of liquidations on Black Thursday in 2020 still has some traders nervous about doing business here

PrimeXBT

PrimeXBT was born during the 2018 bear market and has benefitted traders both at that time and when the market finally turned around, and Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies became bullish. The platform’s trading volumes soared in 2019 when Bitcoin first left its bottom range, and it has been nothing but growth for both PrimeXBT and crypto since.

Like BitMEX, PrimeXBT lets traders short BTC. PrimeXBT offers over 50 different CFDs for trading, ranging from crypto to forex, commodities, and stock indices. Long and short positions are available across all markets for the most robust portfolio diversification opportunities possible.

Unlike BitMEX, however, the reputation is spotless. The platform has industry awards, an AFS license and has never experienced a hack or any significant downtime.

Binance

Binance appeared in the crypto world right at the end of the 2017 bull market but has withstood the test of time. The company is now expansive and far-reaching, growing into a massive ecosystem.

The company is more widely known for its vast list of altcoins and its own Binance Coin, and even its Binance Smart Chain. Shorting and longing crypto assets have taken a back seat in this company’s feature set.

CME Group

CME Group is an institutional trader-focused platform for accredited investors. Only those who meet specific requirements are able to trade at the US-regulated trading desk. CME stands for Chicago Mercantile Exchange and is one of the most famous platforms associated with shorting Bitcoin.

In fact, the debut of Bitcoin futures on CME is what started the bear market in 2018 because traders could finally short BTC contracts without actual exposure to the underlying speculative asset.

Is The Bull Market Over For Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is blowing up – there’s no denying it. But as far as adoption has gone and how widespread cryptocurrencies now reach, these are still volatile, speculative assets going through price discovery.

There will be ups and downs, and after such a strong bull trend, things could turn bearish for some time. The answer to protecting capital and making profits during any downtrends is in shorting Bitcoin.

Using the information above, you can pick and choose which platform best suits your needs. Be sure to check out each platform’s official site to learn more about which assets are offered, dig into each company’s social footprint, and more.

The only thing left to do, is to learn how to short Bitcoin and pick the right platform for you. The more you learn about each platform, the more comfortable you’ll feel leaving your short position in profit until you’re ready to close – whenever Bitcoin finally bottoms out and is ready to go up again.