Minutes ago, the Bitcoin price on BTC-e plummeted to as low as $309- a loss of 36% in about 10 minutes. The drop appears to have been caused by a massive sell quantity of 7300 BTC- worth about $3.4 million- prior to the drop.

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The price has now recovered to $447, and rising.

Other exchanges did not experience the same drop. On Bitstamp and Bitfinex, the price declined by about 5% as traders became unnerved by the price action on BTC-e.

It is possible that the dump originated from a trader looking for a quick exit as crypto markets have undergone one of their roughest stretches in recent memory.

Meanwhile, Litecoin simultaneously experienced a flash crash of its own on the same venue: it fell to $3.40, a loss of 13% with 10 minutes on a volume of 65,000 LTC ($250,000). It then climbed back to $3.75.