Bitcoin fell below $69,000 on Friday, 13 November, extending a week-long slide that has wiped out months of gains and pushed the world's largest cryptocurrency to its lowest level since August. The token was trading at $68,663 at about 04:15 UTC, down 6.8% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data reported by The Crypto Times.

The fall came in stages. Bitcoin held near $73,500 until about 12:30 UTC on Thursday, then dropped to around $71,300 by early afternoon. A brief rebound towards $72,000 faded overnight, and the steepest leg came between roughly 02:00 and 03:30 UTC on Friday, when the price fell from near $70,800 to below $69,000. Some exchanges recorded even deeper lows, with Coinbase and Kraken showing intraday troughs near $67,500, according to CoinScreamer. The move leaves Bitcoin about 45% below the all-time high above $126,000 it set in October 2025, and its market value at about $1.38 trillion.

$1.41bn in liquidations as leveraged longs are forced out

The drop triggered a wave of forced selling in crypto derivatives. CoinGlass data showed about $1.41 billion in liquidations over 24 hours, with 172,922 traders caught out and long positions — bets that prices would rise — accounting for 89% of the total, or $1.26 billion. Bitcoin led the damage with $742.1 million in liquidations, 96.3% of them longs, followed by Ether at $250.6 million and Solana at $52.7 million. The largest single casualty was a $31.09 million long position on Hyperliquid, while Binance accounted for 36.2% of liquidations by exchange.

A liquidation happens when an exchange forcibly closes a leveraged position because the trader's losses have used up the margin posted to keep the trade open. With so many traders positioned for higher prices, each forced sale pushed the price lower and set off the next round of closures. More than half of the 24-hour total — $745 million — came in a single four-hour window, and a separate Crypto Briefing report put four-hour liquidations at $622 million, underlining how fast the selling accelerated once $70,000 gave way.

ETF outflows stretch to five sessions

Demand from US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds had already been weakening before the drop. According to Farside Investors' flow data, the funds recorded $299.8 million in net outflows on Wednesday, 11 November, the fifth straight trading session of withdrawals. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust accounted for $269.7 million of that day's outflow. Across the five sessions, total net outflows reached about $1.44 billion, removing a key source of buying pressure just as leveraged traders were being forced to sell.

Hot inflation and Nvidia turmoil weigh on risk assets

Two wider forces have weighed on the market this week. First, US consumer prices rose 0.4% in October, with core inflation — which excludes food and energy — up 0.3%, above the 0.2% economists had expected. Before the data, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said the central bank should consider a half-point rate rise in December if core inflation came in at 0.3% or higher, and New York Fed President John Williams said on Thursday that further rate increases are likely. The Fed's target range is currently 3.75% to 4%, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield has pushed above 5.1%, raising the return on cash and bonds and reducing the appeal of assets such as Bitcoin that pay no yield.

Second, turmoil at Nvidia has rattled technology stocks. The chipmaker's board accepted the resignation of co-founder Jensen Huang as chief executive on 11 November, and the shares fell about 4% on Thursday, with chief financial officer Colette Kress named interim chief executive. Nvidia is one of the largest companies in US stock indexes, and pressure on its shares tends to spread to other risk assets, including crypto.

What traders are watching next

With Bitcoin now below $70,000, traders will be watching whether it can climb back above that level or whether more leveraged longs are forced out. The next tests come quickly: US producer price data is due on Friday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, Nvidia reports third-quarter results on 17 November, and the Fed's rate-setting committee meets on 8 and 9 December. Whether ETF demand returns, and whether leverage in derivatives markets eases, is likely to shape Bitcoin's next move. This article is for information only and is not investment advice.