Bitcoin Falls 7% to $68,408 as $1.47 Billion in Positions Are Liquidated
Key Facts
Bitcoin fell 7% over 24 hours to $68,408 at 12:10 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, November 13, its lowest level since August 20, according to a report by The Block. The decline came as $1.47 billion in cryptocurrency positions were liquidated over the same period, according to CoinGlass data cited by the report. Long positions accounted for $1.31 billion, making bets on rising prices the largest part of the liquidation wave. In the four hours before the report, liquidations totaled $798 million, including $718.5 million in long positions. The price decline therefore coincided with a broad wave of liquidations in leveraged positions.
Separate data for spot bitcoin funds showed net outflows of $299.8 million on November 11, followed by $47.7 million on November 12, according to Farside Investors. The daily figures point to outflows continuing over the previous two days, with their value declining on the second day. The moves came alongside the drop in the cryptocurrency, but do not by themselves establish that the outflows caused the decline. While fund data track investment activity through spot products, CoinGlass figures measure position liquidations in the derivatives market. The concurrence highlights two distinct aspects of market pressure: money leaving funds and traders’ positions shrinking through liquidations.
The Block cited analysts as saying traders were assessing the implications of Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang’s departure, alongside expectations of another Federal Reserve rate increase. The report said both factors affected market sentiment, without specifying how much each contributed to bitcoin’s move. In a separate report, Investing.com said markets were pricing in a 25 to 50 basis-point increase in U.S. interest rates in December, after October consumer inflation data came in above expectations. These expectations put the rate outlook at the center of traders’ focus on riskier assets in the coming weeks. An analyst quoted by The Block also described the decline as appearing to be a leverage-driven event after key levels were breached.
More broadly, a Reuters report published by Investing.com said bitcoin fell 6% to $69,244.3 at 02:11 Eastern Time on Friday, dropping below $70,000 for the first time since mid-August. The report said it was heading for a loss of about 9% for the week, its sixth consecutive losing week. That price reflects a reading at a specific time, while The Block later recorded $68,408 at the time it cited. A Dow Jones report said bitcoin was down more than 21% from its late-September peak, while ether fell to its lowest level in three months. This reflected the spread of pressure to other major crypto assets during the session.
Among the risks cited by Investing.com was the possibility that Strategy could be excluded from MSCI indexes effective November 30, which could limit its ability to raise new capital to fund bitcoin purchases. The potential exclusion date adds a near-term factor for investors to monitor in demand linked to companies holding the cryptocurrency. On the economic calendar, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics was scheduled to release the October Producer Price Index on November 13 at 08:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The Federal Reserve will hold its next Federal Open Market Committee meeting on December 8 and 9, with a press conference scheduled for December 9. These dates matter as markets await inflation data and signals on the rate path, two factors analysts cited in explaining weak sentiment.