Bitcoin Stalls Below $75,000 as $1.2 Billion in Liquidations Hit Leveraged Traders

Bitcoin spent November 9 trading between $74,162 and $74,500, failing to reclaim the $75,000 level for the first time since August even as the Nasdaq led a sharp recovery across US equities. The divergence marks a break in the usual correlation between crypto and tech-heavy indices, and it has concrete operational causes: a leveraged-position wipeout, concentrated ETF outflows, and a post-election regulatory overhang.

What happened over the weekend?

The selling began before Wall Street opened on Monday. Bitcoin briefly touched $73,500, its lowest point since August, after selling off over the weekend. That is a notable reversal from early November, when the asset pushed above $80,000 before the floor gave way.

Measured against the roughly $78,000 level where Bitcoin traded earlier in the month, the decline amounts to approximately 5%. In plain terms, an investor who bought at the early-November level has lost about one dollar in twenty inside a fortnight.

The derivatives market amplified the move. More than $1.2 billion in leveraged crypto positions were wiped out in the 24 hours before Monday's session, according to Coinglass data. Of that total, $1.04 billion came from long positions — meaning traders who borrowed to bet on higher prices absorbed the bulk of the losses. Forced liquidations of that scale tend to deepen drawdowns mechanically, as exchanges close collateralized positions into a falling market.

Where did the institutional money go?

Leveraged traders were not the only ones pulling back. Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw outflows exceeding $1.28 billion over the week. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for approximately $1.21 billion of that figure — one fund carried almost the entire weight of the exodus.

For asset managers and allocators who use ETF flows as a proxy for institutional sentiment, the concentration matters. Roughly 94% of the weekly outflow came from a single vehicle, which suggests a discrete reduction in exposure by a limited set of holders rather than a broad-based retreat across every spot Bitcoin product.

Ethereum moved in sympathy. ETH traded between $2,108 and $2,123, sliding between roughly 0.8% and 5% depending on the measurement window, and now sits just above the $2,100 mark.

What does this change for practitioners?

The most immediate takeaway is structural rather than directional: the $75,000 level has flipped from support into resistance, at least for now. Bitcoin failed to reclaim it on a day when equities provided a favorable tailwind, which tells traders that crypto-specific pressure — not macro risk appetite — is driving price discovery.

The broader backdrop is political. The sell-off followed a wave of risk-off sentiment after the US midterm elections, where Democratic gains raised concerns about the regulatory outlook for crypto. That helps explain the divergence of November 9: stocks rallied, but equities do not carry the same regulatory question marks that now hang over digital assets.

The practical question for the weeks ahead is whether ETF flows stabilize. Weekly outflows above $1.28 billion, concentrated in IBIT, indicate that some institutional holders are reducing exposure while the political picture sorts itself out. If that outflow persists alongside a stalled reclaim of $75,000, the market loses its two most reliable sources of demand — passive inflows and leveraged conviction — simultaneously.