Bitcoin extended its November collapse on Friday, sliding below $85,000 for the first time since April as a cascade of leveraged liquidations and collapsing sentiment deepened what is shaping up to be the worst monthly drawdown since the 2022 crypto winter.
BTC briefly touched $81,600 before stabilizing near $84,000, erasing its year-to-date gains and putting the market back into levels last seen before January’s ETF boom.
Across major tokens, the damage is spreading quickly. Ether dropped below $2,750, down almost 14% in the past week. Solana slid over 10% in 24 hours, while XRP, BNB and Cardano all posted declines between 8-15%. In total, majors have retraced 20-35% rom their November highs, with smaller caps faring far worse.
The sell-off coincides with nearly $2 billion in liquidations over the past 24 hours, CoinGlass data show. Bitcoin accounted for $964 million of that total, followed by ether at $407 million and a broad wave of forced unwinds across altcoins.
Roughly 396,000 traders were liquidated, with the single largest wipeout — a $36.7 million BTC position — occurring on Hyperliquid.
Conditions outside crypto are doing little to help. Global stocks have posted their worst week in seven months as doubts over extended AI-driven valuations and the Federal Reserve’s December rate-cut odds weigh on sentiment.
The MSCI All Country World Index has fallen more than 3 percent this week, while U.S. tech shares remain under pressure. Treasuries caught a bid, a classic sign of capital fleeing risk.
Crypto-specific flows continue to worsen. U.S.-listed bitcoin ETFs saw more than $900 million in net outflows on Thursday, their second-worst day since launching in early 2024. Open interest in perpetual futures has fallen 35% since October’s peak near $94 billion, further reducing liquidity across the board.
Retail sentiment is deteriorating just as quickly. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 11 on Monday — deep within “extreme fear” territory and its lowest reading since late 2022.
Historically, such levels have preceded major swing lows, but with price now breaking multimonth support and institutional flows reversing, the market has yet to show any signs of stabilization.