Bitcoin dropped sharply late Sunday, falling from $75,690 to $73,477 in just 15 minutes, its lowest level since August. The move represented a 9% decline over four days and came after BTC had breached $81,000 last Wednesday following U.S. midterm results, then briefly dipped below $75,000 on Friday amid a global tech selloff.
Buyers stepped in quickly after the flush, with bitcoin trading near $74,500 at press time. Analysts estimated liquidation damage at $1 billion within 10-15 minutes, according to Coinglass data.
Ether Suffers Larger Liquidations
Ether traders fared worse than bitcoin traders, with $448 million in ETH liquidations nearly double bitcoin’s $272 million. The single largest liquidation order, worth $48 million, was also in ETH. The asset fell below $2,100 before bouncing to around $2,140.
Individual losses were severe. Onchain tracker Lookonchain reported that one ETH bull was wiped out on a 56,667 ETH long worth $118.4 million, taking total losses to $44.78 million. Popular trader Machi was liquidated again after losing $1.62 million on Papertrade, leaving the account down $1.14 million there even after $485,000 in rewards.
Some treated the drop as an opening. One wallet borrowed $22 million in USDT from Aave and spent $21.55 million buying 10,000 ETH at $2,155. On Hyperliquid, a wallet that shorted Nvidia perpetuals after the scandal broke also added a short on 200 BTC.
The selling spread across the market, with XRP falling below $1.10 and SOL slipping under $90.
Two Headlines and Thin Markets
Pundits linked the swing to two weekend developments: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted an affair in a memo to staff as the company’s board opened an independent investigation into whether he had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iranian demands were “outrageous” and that talks had failed to make progress.
Those headlines hit a market with little cushion, resulting in thin weekend markets where rapid drops tend to flush leveraged longs. The backdrop was already weak: U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs lost about $412 million on Friday and roughly $1.28 billion for the week, while the Nasdaq fell nearly 5% last week for a fourth straight weekly decline.
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index reads 29, firmly in fear territory, and October’s 165,000-job payrolls gain has kept the risk of higher interest rates in focus.
Levels and Odds
Technicians are watching support at the 200-day average near $73,150 and resistance at the 100-day average near $77,430. Prediction markets lean toward another leg lower, with Polymarket pricing a 67.5% chance that bitcoin dips to $72,500 in November and 46.5% for $70,000.
Bitcoin.com News examined year-end odds on Saturday, when traders gave $70,000 a 52% chance of printing before 2027. The macro calendar leaves little room to rest as U.S. inflation data arrives on Tuesday, and earnings from AI cloud firms including Coreweave and Nebius follow this week.
