Bitcoin Slides Below $73,000 as USDT Supply, Liquidations Bite

Bitcoin has fallen nearly $8,000 in one week, dropping from above $81,000 to below $73,000, as three converging forces — a record contraction in stablecoin liquidity, an outsized leveraged-long overhang, and a theory about capital rotating into major IPOs — pressured the largest cryptocurrency.

According to crypto.news market data, Bitcoin traded near $73,600 at the time of reporting, after briefly touching approximately $72,700 on Tuesday. The decline followed weeks of selling, with investors withdrawing money from US spot Bitcoin ETFs and reassessing the Federal Reserve's interest rate outlook.

What drained the liquidity?

The least visible factor sits in stablecoin supply. In its November 10 research, CryptoQuant reported that the market capitalization of Tether's USDT, the largest stablecoin, had contracted by approximately $6.6 billion over 60 days — the largest decline since the firm's data series began in mid-2022, exceeding the drop recorded after FTX's collapse in December that year.

Stablecoins fund purchases, settle trades and move capital between platforms. A shrinking supply reduces readily available capital across the market.

CryptoQuant also found:

• Bitcoin's apparent demand contracted by approximately 284,000 BTC over 30 days, the fastest decline since March 2025.
• The Coinbase Premium Index held negative readings for 30 consecutive days, signaling weak US buying.
• The firm's Bull Score Index fell to 20 from 90 on October 13.

ETF flows compounded the pressure. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded roughly $1.28 billion in net outflows during November's first trading week. On November 10, outflows reached $95 million — the fourth consecutive trading day of withdrawals, per SoSoValue — with BlackRock's IBIT accounting for $78 million, its eighth straight session of losses.

How much leverage was exposed?

The second factor is positioning. Analyst Joao Wedson, using his firm's liquidation exposure metric, identified approximately $579 million in leveraged long positions exposed to liquidation within a 10% price move, against $147 million in shorts.

"Bitcoin and the entire crypto market are falling because there are too many Longs in the market!" Wedson wrote on X on Tuesday. He argued the imbalance makes downward moves more damaging, as falling prices force the closure of longs. His figures represent estimated exposure, not realized liquidations.

Realized liquidations followed anyway. CoinGlass data showed cryptocurrency futures liquidations climbing to nearly $725 million over 24 hours after Tuesday's US inflation report. Bitcoin accounted for around $200.5 million, with long positions representing approximately 85%. Futures open interest fell about 1% to $127.2 billion, while trading volume rose 24% to $204.8 billion. Funding rates remained positive at roughly 0.0078%, meaning longs continued paying shorts.

Is the Anthropic IPO pulling capital out?

A third, contested explanation points to large public offerings. Analyst Crypto Rover noted Bitcoin fell nearly 29% before SpaceX's June 2026 stock market debut, and had declined approximately 16% ahead of Anthropic's planned IPO. "That's TWO major IPO events coinciding with massive Bitcoin corrections," he wrote on November 10.

Anthropic's latest SEC filing proposes selling 825 million Class A shares at $70 to $78 each, which could raise approximately $64.4 billion at the top of the range, with Nasdaq trading expected to begin around November 19. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has previously warned that heavy share issuance from AI listings could affect financial conditions and Bitcoin demand.

The causation remains unproven. Timing alone does not establish that either offering caused Bitcoin's decline.

Altcoins reflected the caution. Ethereum held above $2,000 despite falling 1.6% to around $2,055; XXP declined to $1.06; BNB traded near $680. Zcash was the worst performer, dropping 13% below $1,000, while Monero gained 5.6% to above $575. CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index fell to 43 from 49, Bitcoin dominance climbed to 60.5%, and the Crypto Fear and Greed Index held at 26.

What does this change for practitioners? Watch the Anthropic listing window around November 19 and the Coinbase Premium Index: a turn in either would signal whether the liquidity drain is cyclical or structural.