Whiplash: Bitcoin Slides Below $6,500, Surges Above $7,100 in 8-Hour Span

Bitcoin traders might need a neck brace right now.

That's because the price of the cryptocurrency took a sharp U-turn in the course of trading on Wednesday.

The day started quite dreary for HODLers. Candlesticks slowly and solemnly strode across the bitcoin chart in the upper half of the $ 6,000 range for much of the early morning hours.

Then, at precisely 7:51 a.m. ET, as New York traders were sitting on their desks and sugaring their coffees, another selloff began.

On Binance, the largest BTC market, 1,000 bitcoins changed hands in two minutes, with prices falling $ 61.60 to $ 6,509.91. It slipped below $ 6,500 on other exchanges.

Yet a minute later, 897 were traded on the exchange and prices seemed to stabilize at around $ 6,537. The lull was short-lived; another selloff with 986 bitcoins finding their way to new accounts.

At 8:31 a.m. ET, the rally started.

Buy orders flooded markets and bitcoin gained $ 74 in two minutes, closing at $ 6,595.94 at 8:32 a.m. The candlesticks that trudged through the mud minutes before suddenly had a quicker step. By 11:00 a.m., the cryptocurrency was trading hands at $ 6,900 apiece.

It took a few hours from there but at that point, the excitement was in the air. Bitcoin poked around the $ 7,200 resistance level at around 3:30 p.m. but didn't have the gumption to break above.

Nonetheless, as New York equities markets close and volume tapers off, traders are once again eyeing that $ 7,200 like a snake who stumbled into a mouse hole.