Bitcoin fell below $69,000 on Friday, 13 November, reaching its lowest level since August as a wave of forced selling swept through crypto markets and risk appetite faded across global equities.

The world's largest cryptocurrency dropped about 7% over 24 hours to $68,408 as of 12:10 a.m. ET on Friday, according to The Block's price page, its lowest mark since 20 August. Data from CoinGecko put the price at $68,663 at about 04:15 UTC, down 6.8% on the day, with the token having traded in a 24-hour range of $68,675 to $73,738.

The fall gathered pace during Asian trading hours. Bitcoin had held near $73,500 until about 12:30 UTC on Thursday, then slipped to around $71,300 by the afternoon. A brief attempt to recover towards $72,000 faded overnight, and the steepest leg came between roughly 02:00 and 03:30 UTC on Friday, when the price dropped from near $70,800 to below $69,000.

More than $1.4 billion in liquidations

The break below $70,000 triggered a cascade of forced closures among traders who had borrowed to bet on higher prices. CoinGlass data showed total crypto liquidations of $1.47 billion over 24 hours, with 175,299 traders liquidated. Long positions accounted for $1.31 billion of the total. A separate reading from CoinGlass put the 24-hour figure at $1.41 billion, with longs making up 89% of it.

Bitcoin led the losses, with $742.11 million in liquidations, more than half of the market-wide total, of which 96.3% came from long positions. The largest single liquidation was a $31.09 million long position on the BTC-USD pair on Hyperliquid. Binance accounted for the largest share of liquidations by exchange, at 36.2%.

"The sharp leg lower in crypto looks like a leverage event as BTC broke key levels," Rick Maeda, head of markets at Laevitas, told The Block. "BTC had already lost $72,000 in the U.S. session, and once it broke $70,000 late morning in Asia, the long positions clustered below that level were forced out quickly."

Ether and other tokens fall too

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, dropped 6% to trade at $1,921, while BNB slid 6.3% and XRP lost 3.5%. Bitcoin's market capitalisation stood at $1.382 trillion, with 24-hour trading volume of $35.839 billion.

The slide extends a difficult week for crypto. Bitcoin had already fallen to $73,708 on 10 November, its lowest level since August at the time, before briefly recovering towards $75,000. Friday's price is about 45% below the all-time high above $126,000 that Bitcoin set in October 2025, according to CoinGecko data.

ETF outflows and rate-hike expectations

Demand from US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds has also weakened. The funds recorded a fifth straight session of net outflows, with $299.8 million withdrawn on Wednesday, 11 November, according to Farside Investors' flow data. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust accounted for $269.7 million of that day's outflow. Total withdrawals over the five sessions reached about $1.44 billion.

Expectations of tighter US monetary policy have added to the pressure. The Consumer Price Index, the main US measure of consumer inflation, rose 0.4% in October, with core CPI up 0.3%, above the 0.2% economists polled by Reuters had expected. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller had said the central bank should consider a half-point rate hike in December if core CPI came in around 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 for the federal funds rate is currently 3.75% to 4%, and the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting is scheduled for 8 and 9 December. Higher rates make borrowing for leveraged trades more expensive and raise the returns on cash and bonds, reducing demand for assets such as Bitcoin that pay no interest.

Nvidia turmoil adds to the gloom

Selling in US technology stocks added to the pressure. Nvidia's board accepted the resignation of co-founder Jensen Huang as president, chief executive and board member on 11 November, effective immediately, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress was named interim chief executive. Nvidia shares fell about 4% on Thursday.

Traders will now watch whether Bitcoin can climb back above $70,000 or whether more leveraged longs are forced out, with the US producer price index due later on Friday and Nvidia's earnings scheduled for 17 November.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.