Bitcoin crashes below $70,000 amid $1.47 billion in liquidations and ETF outflows

Bitcoin fell below $70,000 on Friday for the first time since August, as a wave of forced selling in leveraged trades, hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data and steady withdrawals from exchange-traded funds combined to deepen one of the cryptocurrency's worst routs in years. The world's largest digital currency traded at $69,227 late on Friday morning in London, down about 5 percent from the same time on Thursday, according to Yahoo Finance data quoted by Invezz, after earlier touching about $67,627. Other market snapshots told the same story: CoinDesk data cited by Barron's put Bitcoin down 3.1 percent over 24 hours to $69,127, with an intraday low of $67,683.

The fall left Bitcoin heading for a sixth consecutive weekly loss and down roughly 9 percent for the week, a striking reversal for an asset that set a record above $126,000 in October last year. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, slipped below $2,000, while Solana and XRP also weakened, and shares of companies tied to the sector, including Coinbase, Robinhood and Strategy, moved lower alongside the tokens they trade or hold. Traders who had treated the October peak as a springboard for fresh gains were instead forced into a defensive crouch, and several desks described positioning as the lightest it had been since the spring, with many investors preferring to wait for calmer conditions before rebuilding exposure.

A leveraged market unwinds

Traders said the move turned disorderly once Bitcoin broke through $70,000, a level around which many investors had built leveraged bets on rising prices. When the price slipped below it, exchanges began automatically closing losing positions to recover borrowed funds, and that forced selling fed on itself. CoinGlass figures showed $1.47 billion in cryptocurrency positions liquidated over 24 hours early on Friday, with bullish positions accounting for $1.31 billion of the total. A separate CoinDesk snapshot put Bitcoin-specific liquidations at roughly $677 million over a similar window.

Sean McNulty, a derivatives trader at AQC Tech, told Bloomberg that crossing $70,000 triggered automatic closures of heavily leveraged positions, accelerating the decline. Thin order books magnified the effect: with fewer standing buy orders than in calmer periods, each wave of forced selling pushed the price down further before bargain hunters stepped in. Bitcoin also briefly slipped beneath its 200-week moving average near $68,000, a long-term trend gauge watched by chart analysts, adding to the sense that technical support is being tested.

Inflation fears and fund outflows add pressure

The macroeconomic backdrop offered no shelter. U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in October, with core prices up 0.3 percent, both above forecasts, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again in December. A firmer dollar followed, and speculative assets of all kinds suffered. Rich Rosenblum, co-founder of crypto market maker GSR, told Bloomberg that the stronger dollar and turbulence in artificial intelligence stocks had hit bullish Bitcoin trades, with the management upheaval at Nvidia adding to the broader unease that spread from equities into digital assets.

Institutional demand, which powered much of Bitcoin's rise, has also reversed. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $643.6 million in net withdrawals this week through Thursday, according to SoSoValue data, and net flows for the year to date have turned negative by $1.56 billion. Crypto-linked stocks were dragged down with the tokens: Coinbase shares fell 1.9 percent, Robinhood declined 1.1 percent and Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, dropped 0.8 percent. Every redemption forces funds to sell Bitcoin into a falling market, complicating any quick rebound.

The levels traders are watching now

Attention has shifted to whether Bitcoin can defend the area around $67,500, close to Friday's low. Analysts quoted in market coverage warned that a sustained fall below that zone could expose $65,000, while a move back above $70,000 would ease the immediate pressure by restoring the level that triggered the liquidation cascade. Keith Alan, co-founder of Material Indicators, cautioned that further deterioration in weekly momentum could bring much lower levels into view, a sign of how quickly confidence has faded since the October 2025 peak.

The near-term calendar gives traders little rest. Friday's producer price report and December's Federal Reserve decision will shape the interest-rate outlook that has driven the sell-off, and index provider MSCI is scheduled to remove Strategy from its indexes on November 30, a potential source of further volatility for crypto-linked shares. For now, Bitcoin's defenders are hoping that the speed of the liquidation flush has cleared out the weakest hands. The coming sessions will show whether buyers agree.