Bitcoin fell to $73,708 on November 8, 2026 - the lowest since August. In 24 hours, exchanges forcibly closed $855.69 million in leveraged positions. Longs accounted for 90.2% of that amount.
Leverage is trading with borrowed exchange money. A long position is a bet on the price rising. If the price moves against such a bet, the exchange closes it automatically.
Why this matters to a trader. The fall was accelerated by the closures themselves: they dump coins onto the market at any price.
How deep was the drop?
The price went below the psychological mark of $74,000, even though earlier that same week it had held above $80,000.
- $73,708 - the Bitcoin low and the lowest level since August
- $855.69 million - forcibly closed leveraged positions in 24 hours
- 90.2% of liquidations - long positions, i.e. bets on growth
- 140,000 traders were caught up in it, according to CoinGlass
- $2,100 - the level ETH dropped to on some venues
Why did the fall accelerate?
Liquidation is the forced closing of a position by an exchange when the collateral no longer covers the loss. Such sales hit the market at any price and push it lower themselves. When almost everyone is on one side, the cascade feeds itself.
- Liquidation cascade. Closing long positions added selling and pushed the price further down.
- ETF outflows. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw $1.28 billion in net outflows in the week to November 6. An ETF is a fund through which an asset is bought like an ordinary share.
- The institutional side was selling. It wasn't just futures speculators exiting, but regulated money too.
- Weak demand and policy. The backdrop has been building for several weeks: sluggish demand plus uncertainty over US crypto regulation after the November 3 midterm elections.
What does this mean for a trader?
The $75,700 level matters separately. According to Glassnode, this is the average purchase price for those who entered recently.
The market is trading below it, meaning the bulk of recent buyers are in the red. Such holders sell faster than the rest.
Key point: during a liquidation cascade the price moves in jumps, and the risk per trade has to be calculated in advance. We break down how loss limits work in prop trading in the academy.
What happens next?
Bitcoin later recovered above $74,000, but that bounce did not erase the overall decline.
- $75,700 - the price above which new buyers get out of the red
- ETF flows - whether the outflow continues after $1.28 billion in a week
- US regulation - clarity after the November 3 elections has not yet appeared
If you trade crypto in this kind of volatility, you can pick a challenge for your market in the calculator.
Was your long among those 140,000 too?
The slide from $80,000 to $73,708 is tens of percent of movement in an instrument you already trade every day. What stings here isn't the leverage, it's the scale. On a personal deposit of a couple thousand, even a perfect entry into such a move earns you dinner money. In prop trading, the trading notional is provided by the company: you pay for the selection, work within its loss limits and share profits under the contract. While the market is shaking, it's the perfect time to understand how this scheme works.