Bitcoin fell below $72,000 on Thursday, touching its weakest level since August, as a fifth straight session of withdrawals from U.S. spot exchange-traded funds and a wave of forced closures of leveraged bullish bets compounded a slide that has now erased roughly 14% of the token's value over the past month.
The largest cryptocurrency changed hands near $71,450 in U.S. trading, down about 2.9% over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass derivatives data. It had traded around $73,500 earlier in the morning before breaking through the $72,000 threshold that analysts had flagged as a key support level, with an intraday low near $71,218.
The move lower was broad. Ethereum slipped below $2,000, trading at $1,999.53 for a 2.73% decline, while Solana lost 3.58% to $80.84. XRP retreated to $1.0174, hovering just above the $1 mark, and BNB traded at $652. Smaller tokens absorbed heavier damage: Dogecoin dropped 5.09% and NEAR fell 8.86%.
Note: Prices and changes as reported during U.S. trading on Nov. 12; dashes indicate figures not disclosed in the source data.
Derivatives markets amplified the selling. CoinGlass put 24-hour Bitcoin futures liquidations at about $304.5 million, with long positions accounting for nearly 87%, or $265.8 million. Ethereum liquidations totaled $126.35 million, of which $104.74 million came from longs. Solana, XRP and Dogecoin added roughly $23.63 million, $12.78 million and $11.17 million respectively, putting combined liquidations across the five tokens above $479 million, with about $414 million of that from bullish bets.
Open interest in Bitcoin futures remained near $51.1 billion despite the drop, a sign that substantial leveraged exposure is still outstanding.
Institutional demand has thinned at the same time. According to Farside Investors, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $299.8 million in net outflows in the last completed session, the fifth consecutive day of redemptions. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for $269.7 million of the total, while Grayscale's GBTC lost $39.1 million and Morgan Stanley's MSBT drew $9 million in inflows. Net withdrawals across Nov. 5-11 came to roughly $1.44 billion. Spot Ethereum funds shed another $144.8 million in the same session, bringing the combined outflow from the two fund groups to $444.6 million.
Equity markets added their own pressure. Before the U.S. open, Nvidia announced that founder and chief executive Jensen Huang had stepped down from his post and from the board, with chief financial officer Colette Kress named interim CEO. The stock fell about 10% in premarket trading, and Bitcoin slid to around $72,400 at the time. Once cash trading began, Nasdaq losses were limited to about 0.35% in the first half hour, with Broadcom and AMD each up roughly 3%, yet the token kept drifting lower to $71,300.
Treasury yields rose after Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said inflationary pressures were broadening and that policy needed to be tighter. The two-year yield, sensitive to rate expectations, climbed 7.2 basis points to 4.80% during her remarks. The debate was already live after Tuesday's inflation report: consumer prices rose 0.4% month-on-month in October against expectations of 0.3%, and core inflation excluding food and energy climbed 0.3% for a third straight month. Fed governor Christopher Waller said in a speech this week that further tightening is needed to return inflation to the 2% target.
The combination leaves Bitcoin testing territory that had not been reached since the summer. A sustained break below the intraday low near $71,200 would put the psychologically important $70,000 level in view, with $68,000-$69,000 the next zone if selling accelerates. A move back above $72,000 would be the first sign of stabilization, though the token would still need to reclaim $73,000-$74,000 before challenging resistance near $75,500.
For investors, the immediate question is whether spot demand returns before the outstanding leverage is flushed out. Fund flows have been negative for a full trading week, and with rate expectations tilting hawkish, yield-bearing assets are competing harder for the same capital. Crypto-linked equities and ETF products remain the most direct transmission channel for any further weakness in the token.
