Crypto Liquidity Falls $14.2B as Bitcoin Drops Below $69K

Stablecoin supply contracted $14.2 billion over 30 days through Nov. 9, Glassnode reported, as Bitcoin fell below $69,000 on Friday, Nov. 13.

Glassnode called the contraction the fastest since June 2022, when cryptocurrency markets suffered substantial withdrawals after Terra’s collapse. Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC allow traders to hold dollar-linked assets before buying cryptocurrency. Redeeming them for dollars reduces circulating supply and, in Glassnode’s words, leaves “less fuel for a rally.”

Friday’s selloff pushed Bitcoin below $69,000 and Ethereum below $2,000, while several major altcoins lost more than 6%, crypto.news reported.

• Bitcoin traded near $68,388, down 7% over 24 hours, according to crypto.news market data.
• Ethereum fell 6.2% to $1,922, while Solana dropped 5.9% to $78.30, according to crypto.news market data.
• BNB lost 6.8% to $631, while XRP declined 4% to approximately $1, according to crypto.news market data.

Privacy-focused tokens recorded the steepest losses. Monero fell 11.1% to $510.71 and Zcash dropped 9.1% to $892.51, according to crypto.news market data. Dogecoin lost 6% to $0.06323, while Chainlink declined 4.2% to $9.67.

Avalanche, Uniswap, Aave, Hedera and NEAR each fell approximately 6% or more in subsequent market readings, crypto.news said.

What is draining crypto liquidity?

Glassnode identified continued withdrawals from US spot Bitcoin ETFs and weak buying activity on Coinbase as additional evidence of declining demand. Its report also found Bitcoin trading below the average purchase price of recent investors, which stood near $75,600.

Wallets holding between 100 and 10,000 BTC showed some buying, but smaller and larger investor groups continued reducing their holdings, Glassnode reported. The divergence suggests that the buying interest near $68,000 has not yet offset broader reductions.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs lost approximately $1.6 billion across 20 trading sessions, Glassnode reported. Farside Investors put withdrawals on Nov. 11 at $299.8 million, including $269.7 million from BlackRock’s IBIT.

US spot Ether ETFs lost $144.8 million that session, with BlackRock’s ETHA accounting for $129.8 million, according to Farside. The flows showed investors reducing exposure through regulated products while Bitcoin and Ethereum traded below important price levels.

Institutional demand remained weak through November as investors continued withdrawing from cryptocurrency investment funds, the report said.

How did leverage amplify the move?

CoinGlass data showed $1.23 billion in crypto liquidations over a rolling 24-hour period. Bitcoin accounted for roughly $677.5 million, while Ethereum represented another $249.8 million.

Most liquidated positions belonged to traders betting on rising prices. Those forced closures added further pressure to an already illiquid market, turning reduced cash and fund outflows into wider price moves.

What triggered the risk-off session?

Crypto.news reported that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned on Nov. 12, unsettling technology shares, particularly companies tied to artificial-intelligence infrastructure. Nvidia shares declined after the announcement, while CoreWeave and other AI-related companies also faced selling pressure.

Bitcoin had already fallen below $73,000 as Nvidia’s leadership crisis developed, crypto.news previously reported. The leadership change and broader technology weakness coincided with reduced demand for riskier assets.

Stronger US inflation figures also raised expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates again in December. The dollar strengthened alongside Treasury yields, adding pressure to investments sensitive to borrowing costs.

Geopolitical uncertainty persisted after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it had attacked a US early-warning radar installation in Bahrain. The claim followed an alleged attack on a telecommunications tower in southern Iran. US and Bahraini authorities had not immediately confirmed the Iranian claims, crypto.news reported.

Where did buyers step in?

Glassnode found substantial Bitcoin buy orders between $68,000 and $72,500 on major exchanges in its Nov. 11 report. Since Nov. 5, buy orders outnumbered sell orders within 5% of Bitcoin’s trading price, according to Glassnode.

The firm cautioned that exchange orders can be withdrawn before execution. It also identified $62,000 to $66,000 as an area where substantial Bitcoin holdings were previously acquired, while its longer-term analysis placed the June low near $58,500.

The next checkpoint is the Federal Reserve’s December rate decision: another increase, paired with continued stablecoin redemptions and ETF withdrawals, could keep crypto trading liquidity under pressure.