Bitcoin below $70,000 and ether below $2,000: $1.2 billion in liquidations in 24 hours
BTC broke $72,000 on Thursday, November 12, the day Jensen Huang resigned as head of Nvidia, then $70,000 overnight, with a low of $68,500 on Binance around 5 a.m. Paris time, its weakest level since August 19. Around 6 a.m. it was trading near $69,000, down 6% over 24 hours and 9% over the week. ETH fell below $2,000 for the first time since August, to around $1,920 to $1,935, and SOL below $80.
CoinGlass counts $1.23 billion of futures positions liquidated in 24 hours (more than $1.3 billion for CoinDesk), including $1.09 billion of longs, across more than 151.000 traders. BTC accounts for $677 million, and nearly $500 million went in the single hour when it crossed below $70,000. The largest position closed was a $31 million BTC long on Hyperliquid. US spot bitcoin ETFs lost $299.8 million on Wednesday, including $269.7 million from BlackRock's IBIT, the fifth straight session of outflows, $1.44 billion in total.
The trigger is macroeconomic. US inflation for October came in at 0.4% for the month against 0.3% expected, markets now price a Fed rate hike in December, and the dollar is at its highest since April 2025. For your tax report, nothing moves as long as you do not sell. If you have a loan on Aave or Morpho backed by ETH, the move below $2,000 pushed your borrowing ratio up, and once the threshold is crossed part of the collateral is sold.
Bitcoin falls below $70,000 for the first time since August
Bitcoin kept falling this week. Overnight from Thursday to Friday it dropped below $70,000, a first since August 19, and touched $68,500 on the Binance exchange around 5 a.m. Paris time. Ether, the second-largest crypto, fell below $2,000. Bitcoin is down about 6% on the day and nearly 9% over the week. The cause mostly comes from the United States: prices there rose faster than expected in October, and markets now expect the US central bank to raise rates in December. In the process, between $1.2 and $1.3 billion of leveraged bets (positions where you borrow to bet bigger) were forcibly closed within 24 hours.
If you simply hold your bitcoin or ether, with no borrowing, nothing gets closed on you and the drop triggers no tax. Under French rules, a sale at a loss in euros this year can only be set against your 2026 crypto gains. If you borrowed with your crypto as collateral, the drop brings your loan closer to the point where the collateral is sold automatically.
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Bitcoin at $68,500, its lowest since August 19, under pressure from the dollar and ETFs
The overnight low depends on the venue: $68,500 on Binance, $68,943 for Crypto Briefing, $69,000 for CoinDesk. The last time below $70,000 was August 19. BTC is down 6.3 to 6.8% over 24 hours depending on the feed and 17% since the start of the quarter. Its 200-day moving average, around $73,000 to $73,200, is back above the price, and CoinGlass's liquidation map puts the next support near $68,000. ETH trades between $1,920 and $1,935, SOL near $78.5. The Fear & Greed index is down to around 20, from 28 on Thursday.
CoinGlass records $1.23 billion liquidated in 24 hours ($1.09 billion of longs, $144 million of shorts, more than 151.000 accounts), CoinDesk more than $1.3 billion. On BTC, $653.5 million of longs against $24.1 million of shorts, 96% in the same direction. The biggest order is a $31.09 million BTC long on Hyperliquid, triggered near $72,250 according to Crypto Briefing. US spot bitcoin ETFs saw $299.8 million of outflows on Wednesday, November 11 (Farside), $1.44 billion over five sessions, and ether ETFs $144.8 million the same day, $129.8 million of it from ETHA. Glassnode measures a $14.2 billion contraction in stablecoin supply over thirty days, the sharpest since June 2022.
The dollar index is above 103, its highest since April 2025, and some rate futures price a half-point Fed hike in December. US producer prices for October come out this Friday at 2:30 p.m. Paris time, Nvidia reports on Tuesday, November 17, and Strategy leaves the MSCI indexes on November 30. For French tax purposes, selling at a loss in euros in 2026 creates a loss that can only be set against capital gains on digital assets in the same year (article 150 VH bis of the tax code), with no carry-forward. A liquidation on Aave or Morpho sells the collateral for stablecoins: a crypto-to-crypto swap, not taxed at the time, which must appear in your transaction history.
