Bitcoin Slips Below $72,000 as Leveraged Longs Are Wiped Out

Key points

• Bitcoin fell below $72,000 on Thursday 12 November, its weakest level since August, after trading above $76,000 earlier in the week.
• More than $650 million of crypto derivatives positions were liquidated in 24 hours, and most of them were bets on rising prices.
• US spot Bitcoin ETFs took in about $1.44 billion less than they paid out between 5 and 11 November.
• A hotter-than-expected inflation reading, a leadership change at Nvidia and a shrinking stablecoin supply were all cited as pressures.

A drop of about $4,000 in a few days

Bitcoin slipped under $72,000 on Thursday, according to Bitstamp prices cited by Bitcoin.com News. The same data showed it above $76,000 a few days earlier. Altcoinbuzz said the break below $72,000 was brief but took the price to its lowest since August. Hourly charts showed a run of lower highs and lower lows, which is how a sell-off looks when buyers keep stepping back.

Leveraged longs take the hit

The damage was concentrated in futures. Coinglass data cited by Bitcoin.com News put liquidations at more than $656 million over 24 hours, of which more than $555 million were long positions and a little over $100 million were shorts. More than 122,000 traders were closed out. Bitcoin accounted for roughly $237 million, Ether for about $122 million and Solana for around $23 million.

The largest single wipe-out was a $31 million Bitcoin long on Hyperliquid, closed near $72,250. About $226 million was liquidated in a burst around 8:15 a.m. New York time, when selling picked up. Binance made up roughly 37% of the exchange-level total.

ETF money is leaving

Farside Investors data, cited by Altcoinbuzz, show US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded about $1.44 billion of net outflows across 5 to 11 November. Bitcoin.com News pointed to ETF withdrawals as a prominent worry, and also noted weaker US demand in Coinbase's price premium, which is often read as a gauge of American buying.

What else was weighing on prices

Several pressures arrived together. US consumer prices for October rose 0.4% on the month against 0.3% expected, and Altcoinbuzz said CME FedWatch put the odds of a quarter-point Fed rate increase at the 8-9 December meeting at about 90%. Nvidia announced on Thursday that chief executive Jensen Huang had resigned, which hit technology shares that crypto has tended to track.

Crypto-specific factors added to the mood. Altcoinbuzz, citing CryptoQuant, said Tether's USDT market value had fallen by $6.6 billion over 60 days, a sign of cash leaving the market. Ether dipped below $2,000 for the first time since August. MSCI also said it will remove Strategy and Metaplanet from its equity indexes after the close on 30 November, which has put pressure on Strategy.

Levels traders are watching

Altcoinbuzz named $72,000 as the level to watch, saying a move back above it would undo Thursday's break. Bitcoin.com News said a recovery of roughly $75,600 to $75,700 would improve the technical picture, though it stressed that this would not guarantee fresh buying.