Bitcoin Falls Below $70,000 for First Time Since August
Bitcoin slid under $70,000 on Friday as bets on Fed rate hikes, a stronger dollar and the Nvidia shake-up drove investors away from risk.
Bitcoin dropped below $70,000 on Friday, Nov. 13, for the first time since August, extending a weekslong slide as traders braced for more Federal Reserve interest-rate increases and a sell-off in technology stocks sapped appetite for risky assets. The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 4.4% to $68,297, its lowest level since Aug. 19, Bloomberg reported, according to accounts of the move carried by several outlets.
The Wall Street Journal reported that bitcoin was on track for its sixth straight weekly loss, while FXStreet, a financial news site, counted five consecutive losing weeks before Friday and said the token was down more than 8.2% for the current week. The difference reflects how the week is counted; the coin had not yet closed the week at the time of reporting.
What happened
Data from CoinGecko, a crypto price tracker, cited by CryptoSlate showed bitcoin at about $69,225 around 10:52 a.m. UTC, after trading in a 24-hour range between roughly $67,922 and $73,510. Estimates of the one-day drop varied by source and time stamp, from about 4.5% in CryptoSlate’s snapshot to about 5.5% in a report published by Conservative Daily News, which also cited CoinGecko.
The decline triggered a wave of forced selling in derivatives markets. CryptoSlate, citing figures from the data provider CoinGlass, said about $870 million in leveraged bets on higher bitcoin prices were liquidated over 24 hours, compared with about $31 million in bets on lower prices. Counting all cryptocurrencies, more than $1.2 billion in bullish positions were wiped out over the same period, according to the Conservative Daily News report.
“Once it broke below $70,000, over $1 billion of leveraged longs were forced out, which fed more selling,” Sean McNulty, a derivatives trader at market maker AQC Tech, said in remarks carried in that report.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, also fell below $2,000 for the first time since August, CoinDesk reported, according to the same account.
Why it matters
The sell-off shows how closely bitcoin has come to trade alongside other risk assets such as technology stocks. Several pressures converged this week:
- Rate-hike bets: October consumer prices rose 0.4%, hotter than expected, according to reports cited by Conservative Daily News. Futures pricing implied a 94% chance of a quarter-point Fed hike at the central bank’s Dec. 8-9 meeting.
- Fed signals: Christopher Waller, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, said in a Nov. 10 speech that he leaned toward a quarter-point increase in December and that a strong core inflation reading could lead him to consider a half-point move, CryptoSlate and FXStreet reported. CryptoSlate noted he presented it as his personal view.
- A stronger dollar and higher yields: The U.S. dollar index rose above 103, its highest since April 2025, while the 10-year Treasury yield climbed above 5.11%, according to the Conservative Daily News report. A firmer dollar and higher yields tend to weigh on assets that pay no interest, such as bitcoin.
- Nvidia turmoil: The abrupt resignation of Jensen Huang as chief executive of chipmaker Nvidia, announced Nov. 12, rattled technology shares. Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer, has stepped in as interim CEO. CryptoSlate described a risk-off mood tied to uncertainty in the tech sector.
Rich Rosenblum, co-founder of crypto market maker GSR, pointed to swings in the artificial intelligence trade, the strong dollar and Nvidia’s leadership change as factors behind the drop, according to the Conservative Daily News report.
Background
Bitcoin is now about 45% below its record of roughly $126,200, set in October 2025, and down nearly 34% since the start of 2026, according to figures cited in the Conservative Daily News report.
Demand from large investors has also cooled. U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which let investors buy exposure to bitcoin through ordinary brokerage accounts, have seen $1.88 billion in net outflows so far in November, the largest monthly outflow since June, FXStreet reported, citing data from SoSoValue. Bitcoin Magazine reported that the funds lost $299.8 million on Wednesday alone, their fifth straight day of outflows.
Politics may add to the uncertainty. Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, and FXStreet said the new Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, 2027, could delay the CLARITY Act, a bill meant to set a federal regulatory framework for digital assets.
What comes next
Traders are watching the government’s October producer price index, a measure of wholesale inflation that was due Friday morning, for clues about the Fed’s next move. Nvidia’s quarterly results, scheduled for Nov. 17, are another test for risk sentiment across markets.
On the technical side, FXStreet noted that bitcoin had broken below its 50-week moving average near $75,100 and identified its 200-week moving average, near $68,000, as the next key level watched by chart analysts. The outlet said a weekly close below that line could open the way to a deeper decline toward $60,000, a scenario it described as a risk rather than a forecast. Analysts and market participants cited in the reports said leveraged positioning and weak fund flows could keep prices volatile in the near term.
