Bitcoin Falls Below $70,000 for the First Time Since August as $1.6 Billion in Leveraged Bets Get Wiped Out

Crypto
Written by Methodical Millions

Colourful editorial illustration of a cracked glowing orange Bitcoin coin breaking through a shattered floor, with red falling candlesticks, a red downward arrow, snapping blue chains and a green dollar sign rising in the corner

Bitcoin is at a 12-week low, leveraged traders just lost about $1.6 billion in a day, and the three big buyers that powered this year's rally are all pulling back at once.

By Methodical Jon | Nov 13, 2026

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $70,000 USD overnight on Friday, November 13th 2026, for the first time since August. It slid as low as about $67,770 USD, a level last seen on August 19th, according to CoinDesk, while Coinbase's own market touched $67,555 USD, per Unchained via Yahoo Finance. Ether (ETH) followed it down, dipping to around $1,900 USD, its lowest since mid-August.

The drop was fast, and it was mostly leverage unwinding.

What happened

Bitcoin had already slipped below $72,000 USD during Thursday's U.S. session, Laevitas head of markets Rick Maeda told The Block. The first trade below $70,000 USD on Coinbase came in the hour after 9 p.m. ET Thursday, and the low came in the hour after midnight ET, according to Unchained's review of Coinbase hourly data.

Once that level broke, forced selling did the rest. About $1.64 billion USD in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, with traders betting on higher prices (longs) taking roughly 89% of the losses, CoinGlass data cited by CoinDesk showed. Bitcoin accounted for about $916 million USD of that and ether about $289 million USD. The biggest single hit was a $31.1 million USD bitcoin long on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid.

"Bitcoin's drop below $69,000 was directly triggered by a concentrated liquidation of leveraged long positions," Hashkey senior analyst Tim Sun told Decrypt. "Though the deeper issue lies in steadily weakening market demand."

The rest of the market fell with it. The global crypto market cap dropped 4.6% in 24 hours to about $2.39 trillion USD, per Decrypt, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 20, its lowest reading in more than four months, Cointelegraph reported.

Context: rates, the dollar and the AI trade

The macro backdrop turned against risk this week. October consumer prices rose 0.4%, hotter than hoped, and traders now see an 88% chance of a quarter-point Fed rate hike in December and a 12% chance of a half-point move, according to the CME FedWatch tool cited by both CoinDesk and Decrypt. The U.S. Dollar Index climbed above 103, its highest since April 2025. The Fed meets December 8th and 9th.

Higher rates make a non-yielding asset like bitcoin less attractive, and a stronger dollar usually weighs on it. Then came Thursday's resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, which rattled tech stocks and pushed investors to cut risk across their portfolios.

"Bitcoin does not need a direct economic connection to AI to suffer when investors reduce risk across their portfolios," CoinShares head of research James Butterfill told Unchained.

Why it matters

Sun pointed to the bigger problem: "ETFs, stablecoin liquidity, and corporate treasuries have served as the primary capital pillars supporting this Bitcoin rally. With all three coming under simultaneous pressure, the market is losing the marginal buying power that previously propelled prices higher."

All three pillars are visibly cracking:

  • ETFs: U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw a sixth straight day of outflows on Thursday, about $1.44 billion USD in total over that streak, per Farside Investors data cited by CoinDesk. The funds are now down about $1.56 billion USD in net flows for 2026, according to SoSoValue data.
  • Corporate treasuries: index provider MSCI said this week it will drop Strategy, the largest corporate bitcoin holder, from its indexes.
  • Stablecoins: Sun said stablecoin supply has been shrinking, which means less fresh cash sitting on the sidelines of crypto markets.

Market plumbing is thin too. Talos said bitcoin order-book depth across major exchanges fell to $72 million USD on November 9th, roughly 33% below normal, which means it takes less selling to move the price.

CoinShares has expected bitcoin to trade between $70,000 and $90,000 USD into 2027. "The move below US$70,000 puts the lower end of that view under pressure, and we should not assume it represents a hard floor," Butterfill said.

The money lesson

1. Leverage turns a dip into a wipeout. Most of Friday's damage hit people who borrowed to bet on higher prices. The price drop was a few percent; for many leveraged traders, the loss was everything they had posted.

2. Know who your marginal buyer is. Prices are set at the edges. When ETFs, treasury companies and stablecoin inflows all slow at once, even a strong long-term story can't stop a slide.

3. Rates move everything. A hot inflation print and a stronger dollar hit bitcoin, gold and tech stocks in the same week. Any plan for your money needs to account for interest rates, not just the asset you like.

From the Methodical Millions archive

We broke down how fast markets can unravel in Episode 13 - Financial Crashes. Friday's liquidation cascade is a small, live example of that pattern, where forced selling feeds on itself until the leverage is gone.

What to watch

  • October producer prices, out Friday morning. Another hot number would firm up December hike bets.
  • ETF flows. A seventh straight day of outflows would confirm that institutional demand is still leaving.
  • The $68,000 to $70,000 USD zone. Bitcoin briefly slipped below its 200-week moving average, near $68,000 USD, CoinDesk noted. Reclaiming $70,000 USD would be the first sign the flush is over.
  • Funding rates. Funding on most big coins has turned negative, meaning short sellers are paying to stay in. That can set up a sharp squeeze in either direction.

At the time of writing (about 7:00 AM ET on Nov 13, 2026), bitcoin was trading around $69,275 USD and ether around $1,958 USD, based on Coinbase spot prices. This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice.

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This article may be AI-assisted and is subject to errors and omissions.

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