A trailing stop order has occurred in Binance’s system, causing the exchange to pause spot trading until further notice, as confirmed by Binance’s official Twitter page and CEO Changpeng Zhao.
On March 24, Binance announced the suspension of spot trading until the problem is fixed:
We are aware of an issue impacting spot trading on Binance. All spot trading is currently temporarily suspended as we work to resolve this as soon as possible. New updates will be shared here.
In a follow-up on the situation, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao assured users of the safety of their funds :
Initial analysis indicates matching engine encountered a bug on a trailing stop order (a weird one). Recovering. Est 30-120 min ish. Waiting for more precise ETA. Deposits & withdrawals are paused as a SOP (standard operating procedure). Funds are #SAFU.
When asked why the one stop trailing order caused the entire platform to pause trading and withdrawals, CZ said:
Software bugs happen like that. Matching engines are sequential state machines. Previous orders affect future orders. If one order encounters a bug, the matching engine stops, for security reasons.
Then another user asked who is at risk if the spot price falls while the traders are waiting. CZ replied:
When the biggest exchange halts trading, prices won’t move much. If it moves on smaller exchanges, when Binance comes back, our deeper orderbook will bring the price back, causing those guys to lose money. Traders know this.
Another user pointed out that it took a short time for CZ to come out on Twitter with explanations and assurances to Binance’s customers:
CEO replied:
We communicate more frequently during issues. Trading halts are P0 all-hands-on-deck issues. All internal meetings cancelled, for 8000+ people. Single focus until full recovery. My main job is tweeting, while listening in on the dev call. No filter or proof-reads.
However, there was no explicit explanation of the technical side of the bug. Binance focused mainly on providing emotional support.
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