Crypto
Bitcoin Fell Below $74,000, Its Lowest Since August
Bitcoin dropped to $73,510 on Binance late on November 8, its lowest since August, as the Nvidia probe and stalled Iran talks hit risk assets.
Bitcoin spent most of the weekend in a $500 range around $75,800. That ended in a single 15-minute candle on Sunday evening: from 21:45 UTC on November 8, the price on Binance fell from $75,607 to $73,510, with more than 2,200 bitcoin traded in those 15 minutes against 30 to 80 in each of the quarter-hours before. Other venues printed similar lows: CoinDesk put the bottom at about $73,761 and Reuters at $73,708. It was the lowest level since August.
Two headlines landed within hours of each other. Nvidia's board announced an independent investigation into whether chief executive Jensen Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had "no progress to report" on talks with Iran. CoinDesk noted that higher Middle East tension, which lifts oil, has generally weighed on bitcoin since the war began in March.
Leverage did the rest. More than $1 billion of leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in 24 hours, $913 million of them bets on higher prices, according to CoinGlass. Ether suffered more than bitcoin, with $448 million of liquidations against $272 million, including the largest single one, $48 million; it fell below $2,100 before recovering to about $2,144.
The bounce was quick and did not last. Bitcoin was back above $75,000 by 23:15 UTC, touching $75,735, but slipped again through the Asian morning and traded near $74,400 at 06:00 UTC on Monday. It now sits between its 200-day moving average, near $73,150, and its 100-day average, near $77,430, CoinDesk calculated. Strategist Matt Maley said a break below $75,000 "would give it a key lower-low", and that is where the price has spent the morning.
The backdrop has not improved. Spot bitcoin ETFs lost about $1.28 billion last week, bitcoin closed at $80,504 on November 4 and has fallen on most days since, and futures put the chance of a Fed rate hike in December near 77% after the strong October jobs report. Tuesday's October CPI is the next test; a daily close below the 200-day average would put the round $70,000 level, which analysts already flag, in play.