Bitcoin’s Crash Below $70K Wipes Out $800M, While ETF Outflows Hit 11-Day Record

• Long positions accounted for roughly $700 million of the losses, with Bitcoin traders absorbing nearly $500 million of the total wipeout.
• Crypto analyst EmberCN stated that Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have increasingly tracked ETF capital flows since spot ETF launches.
• Spot Bitcoin ETFs have now recorded 11 consecutive trading days of net outflows, while spot Ethereum ETFs have seen redemptions for 15 straight sessions.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price fell below $70,000 on Tuesday morning, wiping out nearly $800 million in leveraged crypto traders in the last 24 hours amid escalating outflows from spot BTC exchange-traded funds.

Bitcoin’s price was trading at around $69,400 at the time of writing, down 4.4% in the last 24 hours – the steepest decline among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization – and was among the top trending tickers on Stocktwits. 

The drop in Bitcoin’s price led the broader market lower by over 3% to around $2.47 trillion, albeit with a few outperforming altcoins. The selloff triggered nearly $800 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass. Long positions accounted for roughly $700 million of the wipeout, while about $100 million came from short sellers being forced to cover.

Bitcoin Traders Take The Biggest Hit

Bitcoin traders absorbed the largest share of the liquidation wave. Data showed nearly $500 million in Bitcoin-linked positions were wiped out over the past 24 hours, making up the largest portion of the $800 million wiped out across the market.

Retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency on the platform trended in ‘extremely bearish’ territory over the past day, while chatter jumped to ‘high’ from ‘normal’ levels. Many retail traders anticipated that Bitcoin losing the $70,000 level could mean a deeper drawdown.

Why Is Bitcoin’s Price Falling?

While most retail traders blamed Strategy’s (MSTR) Michael Saylor for opening the door to Bitcoin sales, the drop in Bitcoin’s price seems to be following institutional money. 

According to crypto analyst EmberCN, after the introduction of spot ETFs, Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) have been driven by their capital flows. “ETF funds have been outflowing for the past two weeks, and prices have been falling for two weeks as a result,” they wrote on X.

Data from SoSoValue showed that Bitcoin ETFs have seen a record 11-day run of outflows, while Ethereum ETFs have seen redemptions for 15 consecutive days.

Ethereum’s price traded flat in the last 24 hours at around $1,970. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the leading altcoin improved to ‘bearish’ from ‘extremely bearish’ over the past day. Chatter stayed at ‘normal’ levels.

EmberCN noted that BTC ETF funds have decreased from $16.95 billion to $9.64 billion since the October highs, marking a loss of 43%. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s price has fallen from $125,000 to below $73,000 during the same period, down 41%.

Ethereum ETFs have dropped from $3.2 billion to $1.16 billion since October, a loss of 63%, while ETH’s price has fallen from $4,800 to below $2,000, down 59%.

Read also: After Three Winning Calls, Arthur Hayes Is Betting Big On Sam Altman’s Crypto Project

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com