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Bitcoin slipped under $70,000, and the traders who borrowed to bet on it going higher paid for it. Crypto liquidations hit $622 million in a span of just four hours.
The drop sent Bitcoin to an intraday low of $68,943 on November 13, 2026. It later steadied around $69,297, leaving it down 6% over 24 hours. For a market that was trading above $76,000 earlier in the same week, that is a rough few days.
How the slide unfolded
The sell-off did not arrive all at once. On November 12, Bitcoin was changing hands at approximately $70,796, already down 4.31% over the prior 24 hours.
Then the decline sped up. Bitcoin broke below the $70,000 line, a level it had held in recent sessions. Liquidation intensity maps, which chart where forced closures are likely to cluster, flagged long positions below $70,000 as especially exposed. Once price reached that zone, those positions started getting closed out in bulk.
Those automatic closures mean selling into a falling market. That selling pushes prices lower, which triggers the next batch of liquidations. It is a chain reaction, and the four-hour window captured it in full swing.
Who got caught
This was overwhelmingly a bad day for the bulls. CoinGlass data showed $549 million in long liquidations against $72.46 million in shorts.
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More than 110,000 traders were affected across the related 24-hour timeframe, according to the same data.
The single biggest casualty was a $31.09 million long position on Hyperliquid, the decentralized derivatives exchange. That position was triggered near $72,250, well before Bitcoin even reached the $70,000 mark.
The pain was not limited to Bitcoin. Ethereum saw around $120 million in liquidations, while Solana recorded approximately $23 million.
Why the selling snowballed
The research behind this move points to deleveraging rather than any shift in Bitcoin’s underlying fundamentals. The broader mood did not help. Risk-off sentiment was weighing on markets, and spot Bitcoin ETFs had seen outflows totaling around $2 billion over three weeks.
What this means
A $31.09 million position getting closed near $72,250 shows that size and confidence offer no protection when the market turns.
The first is whether ETF outflows continue. Around $2 billion leaving over three weeks signals hesitation among the mainstream investors who drove much of the recent demand.
Ethereum and Solana holders should also watch how those assets behave relative to Bitcoin. Liquidations of around $120 million and approximately $23 million, respectively, show the deleveraging spread well beyond one asset.
