Crypto Markets Face Brutal Reset Overnight as Liquidations Surpass $2B

After a calm, nearly flat Thursday, crypto markets have flipped sharply into risk-off mode as a wave of liquidations slams prices lower, pushing total market capitalization down 8% on Friday morning to below $3 trillion.

Bitcoin (BTC) plunged over 10% on the day, falling to as low as $81,050, extending weekly losses above 12%

Data from Coinglass shows more than $2.2 billion in positions affecting more than 400,000 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours, the largest single-day liquidation event since the Oct. 10 crash — which saw record daily liquidations of nearly $20 billion. The vast majority of liquidated positions were longs, at just over $2 billion. Bitcoin led liquidations with $1.13 billion wiped out on the day, while Ethereum saw $428 million.

Ethereum (ETH) also fell sharply, losing about 10% on the day to trade around $2,700, extending a slide that accelerated overnight. Among the top-10 tokens by market capitalization, most followed BTC and ETH, while DOGE is down the most with 11% losses, trading near $0.14. TRON lost the least in the past 24 hours, down a modest 2.7% today.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index continues to stay at extreme fear levels for the sixth day in a row.

Echo From FTX Era

Glassnode analysts noted in an X post today that Bitcoin’s realized losses have surged to levels “last seen during the FTX collapse,” with short-term holders “driving the bulk of the capitulation.”

The analysts added that the scale and speed of these losses reflect a “meaningful washout of marginal demand as recent buyers unwind into the drawdown.”

CryptoQuant founder and CEO Ki Young Ju suggested in an X post today that the market looks “more bearish” than he expected, adding that if this continues, Bitcoin probably “will not see a strong recovery for the next 3-6 months.”

Today’s Biggest Movers

Among the top-100 assets, no non-stablecoin assets are in the green except Tether Gold, which is up 0.1%.

On the downside, all the top losers are seeing double-digit losses, led by Canton (CC), down over 22%, extending a multi-day slide, and NEAR Protocol (NEAR), down around 17%.

ETFs and Macro Conditions

ETF flows show that institutional positioning is worsening. Spot Ethereum ETFs recorded their ninth straight day of outflows on Thursday, Nov. 20. This is the longest streak on record for spot ETH ETFs, with nearly $261.6 million withdrawn, leaving total net assets at $17.4 billion, according to SoSoValue.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $903 million in outflows on Nov. 20, the second-largest single-day withdrawal since Feb. 25’s $1.14 billion record.

On the macro side, John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in remarks at a central bank conference in Chile today that U.S. inflation is still slightly above the Fed’s 2% target, currently around 2.75%.

Williams said the labor market has cooled a bit, which raises some risks for jobs, while inflation pressures have eased somewhat. He described monetary policy as “modestly restrictive” and said future moves will depend on how the data unfolds, showing the Fed is taking a careful, data-driven approach.

As The Defiant reported yesterday, September’s delayed jobs report from the U.S. showed more jobs were added than expected, but the unemployment rate edged up. Today, Nov. 21, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Real Earnings report, also delayed from September, which showed average hourly earnings for employees were unchanged from August.