Crypto liquidations reached $1.11 billion, with bullish positions absorbing most of the damage during a concentrated selloff. Ethereum suffered disproportionate forced selling, revealing grea
Bitcoin fell below $74,000 on November 9 as regulatory uncertainty, concerns following Binance’s security breach and expectations of tighter U.S. monetary policy weighed on cryptocurrency markets already vulnerable to leveraged selling.
The decline intensified as derivatives exchanges closed overextended bullish positions, accelerating losses across major digital assets.
The latest CoinGlass liquidation figures reveal a particularly striking imbalance: Ethereum suffered substantially more forced liquidations than Bitcoin despite its smaller market capitalization.
ETH and BTC dominate crypto liquidations as leveraged long positions absorb the heaviest losses.
That concentration provides an important clue about the selloff. Although macroeconomic and industry-specific concerns weakened sentiment, leveraged positioning amplified the damage.
The correction spread across major cryptocurrencies, but the losses were far from uniform. Ethereum, XRP and Solana underperformed Bitcoin, while TRON showed relative resilience over the preceding week.
The following CoinMarketCap snapshot captures prices and percentage changes during the November 9 morning selloff.
DIGITAL ASSET MARKET MONITOR Crypto Market Prices November 9, 2026 | Prices at time of writingBitcoinBTC
7d -5.31%$73,855.65
▼ 2.50% / 24hEthereumETH
7d -8.51%$2,086.30
▼ 6.56% / 24hBNB
7d -4.52%$675.18
▼ 3.28% / 24hXRP
7d -13.16%$1.08
▼ 6.64% / 24hSolanaSOL
7d -9.43%$85.31
▼ 4.16% / 24hTRONTRX
7d +0.38%$0.3163
▼ 1.17% / 24hZcashZEC
7d -5.47%$1,195.18
▼ 5.30% / 24hHyperliquidHYPE
7d -14.32%$73.34
▼ 4.94% / 24hEthereum accounted for $492.49 million in forced liquidations, representing approximately 44.4% of the market-wide total. Bitcoin followed with $298.46 million, or 26.9%.
Ether’s liquidation volume was roughly 1.65 times Bitcoin’s, even though Bitcoin commands a substantially larger share of the cryptocurrency market.
This disproportionate exposure suggests that bullish Ethereum derivatives positions were especially vulnerable to the latest price decline.
Long liquidations represented approximately 92% of the forced closures in both assets, indicating that the damage was concentrated among traders positioned for higher prices.
The largest observed liquidation was a $48.16 million ETHUSDT order on Binance. The exchange accounted for 49.4% of the overall liquidation volume reported by CoinGlass.
The timing was equally significant.
Approximately 96.4% of the 24-hour liquidation total occurred during the latest 12 hours. Such concentration is consistent with a rapid liquidation cascade, where forced closures accelerate an existing decline.
The figures establish the severity of the derivatives unwind, although they do not identify the transaction or event that initiated the selling.
The selloff developed against several overlapping risks rather than a single confirmed catalyst.
Following the U.S. midterm elections, investors have been reassessing the outlook for cryptocurrency regulation and the prospects for market-structure legislation.
Political uncertainty matters particularly for exchanges, token issuers and other businesses awaiting clearer rules governing digital-asset trading and custody.
The aftermath of Binance’s reported security breach has added another source of concern.
Although the exchange said it would cover affected customer losses, the incident raised questions about operational security, exchange counterparty exposure and the ability of centralized platforms to contain large-scale attacks.
Monetary policy has also become less supportive.
Stronger U.S. employment data have reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates again in December, increasing pressure on speculative assets whose valuations depend heavily on liquidity and risk appetite.
These developments provide a plausible backdrop for weakening demand. The liquidation data, meanwhile, explain why the resulting price adjustment became unusually severe.
Institutional flows had already weakened before Monday’s liquidation wave.
U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds recorded approximately $1.7B in combined net outflows from the week 2-6th November, according to figures reported by FarSide Investors.
Bitcoin products accounted for $430.2 million, while Ethereum funds recorded $99.9 million in withdrawals.
The timing is relevant because the outflows preceded the latest derivatives shock.
They suggest that demand through regulated investment vehicles was weakening before leveraged traders began facing widespread forced closures.
ETF withdrawals do not automatically translate into equivalent selling on cryptocurrency exchanges, and they should not be treated as a direct explanation for every price movement.
Nevertheless, sustained redemptions can reduce a source of buying demand at precisely the moment when leveraged positions are being unwound.
The CoinMarketCap dashboard also showed a Fear & Greed reading of 26, indicating fearful market sentiment, while its altcoin season index stood at 37.
Together with the relative underperformance of major altcoins, these readings suggest investors were reducing exposure rather than rotating broadly into smaller digital assets.
CoinGlass’s Bitcoin derivatives chart shows aggregate open interest declining alongside the cryptocurrency’s price during the latest phase of the selloff.
Bitcoin futures open interest declines alongside BTC prices, signaling reduced leveraged exposure. Source: CoinGlass.
That pattern is consistent with traders closing positions and exchanges reducing leveraged exposure through liquidations.
The accompanying volume bars also show increased activity around the period of heightened volatility.
The immediate implication is that the market has removed a substantial amount of outstanding leverage, potentially reducing the fuel available for another liquidation cascade of similar intensity.
However, deleveraging is not the same as renewed demand.
A market can become less leveraged while remaining vulnerable to additional selling if spot buyers fail to absorb supply.
This is particularly relevant for Ethereum, where the imbalance between market capitalization and forced liquidations indicates that the correction reached beyond a straightforward decline in Bitcoin.
The near-term market bias remains bearish. Leverage has contracted sharply, institutional fund flows have weakened and major altcoins continue to underperform Bitcoin.
The first observable test is whether Bitcoin can reclaim $74,000 and sustain trading above that threshold. This is a near-term reference level from the current price action, not a confirmed technical support or resistance level.
A recovery accompanied by stabilizing open interest and stronger spot buying would be more convincing than a brief rebound driven by renewed speculative leverage.
Ethereum faces the more difficult task. Its outsized liquidation burden suggests that traders had accumulated substantial exposure to a recovery that failed to materialize.
For now, the evidence favors treating rebounds as corrective moves within a weakened market rather than assuming the liquidation wave has established a durable bottom.
The selling has reduced leverage. It has not yet restored confidence.
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