What you're describing happened to Ethereum this week [1]. On one exchange (GDAX), a large sell order pushed the price down by 30% or so, which in turn triggere

What you're describing happened to Ethereum this week [1]. On one exchange (GDAX), a large sell order pushed the price down by 30% or so, which in turn triggered a lot of (market) stop loss orders, pushing the price farther down. In the end, a couple of thousand ETH traded hands for $0.10 while the price at other exchanges was around $300. I share your fear. At the same time, it's also important to remember that most other instruments trade at way deeper order books, with orders of magnitude greater liquidity and massively better controls (e.g. circuit breakers). [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14611333 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14611333