Summary

  • Changpeng Zhao denied rumors of large-scale crypto sales by Binance and said he had bought more crypto using newly secured stablecoins.
  • Zhao said persistent outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs and spot Ethereum ETFs, along with the possibility of Fed rate hikes, increased selling pressure in the crypto market.
  • He said the recent plunge in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana prices was accompanied by $2.02 billion in liquidations in the derivatives market, including $1.68 billion in forced liquidations of long positions.

Forecast Trend Report by Period

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao denied speculation that the exchange sold large amounts of cryptocurrency during the recent market rout, instead citing spot ETF outflows and concerns about additional US rate hikes as key drivers of the decline.

The Block reported on Nov. 15 that Zhao wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “Binance did not sell crypto” in response to claims the exchange had offloaded a large portion of its holdings. He said he had instead bought more cryptocurrency using stablecoins he had recently secured.

Zhao pointed to outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs and the possibility of further Federal Reserve rate hikes as factors behind the latest market slide. Institutional money leaving the market and uncertainty over monetary policy may have intensified selling pressure across digital assets.

He also suggested some investors may have sold cryptocurrency to raise capital ahead of artificial intelligence company Anthropic’s initial public offering. Security concerns that grew after a major hack at Binance last month may also have hurt investor sentiment, he added.

Outflows have continued from US spot cryptocurrency ETFs. Spot Bitcoin ETFs logged net outflows for seven consecutive trading sessions through Nov. 13, with a total of $1.91 billion withdrawn. Spot Ethereum ETFs also saw $398.9 million in net outflows last week, extending their streak of withdrawals to seven straight weeks.

Against that backdrop, Bitcoin briefly fell to $62,000 over the weekend, its lowest level since July. It later recovered to $64,910, but was still down 14.2% for the week. Ethereum and Solana fell 18.2% and 19.7%, respectively, over the same period.

The sharp decline triggered heavy liquidations in the derivatives market. CoinGlass data showed that positions totaling $2.02 billion were liquidated between 8 a.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 14 and 8 a.m. on Nov. 15. Long positions accounted for $1.68 billion, or more than 80% of the total.

Suehyeon Lee