Bitcoin Dips to 12-week Low at Under $72,000

Bitcoin has hit a 12-week low after the flagship asset crashed below $72,000 on Thursday. The decline, which follows its more than 3% drop, further confirms that Wednesday’s recovery was a dead cat bounce.

According to CoinMarketCap, BTC fell as low as $71,182 today after starting the day around  $74,700. The decline marks the first time Bitcoin has traded below $72,000 since August 20.

Unsurprisingly, Bitcoin price movement also dragged down the rest of the crypto market. Major altcoins, including Ethereum, Solana, BNB, Zcash, XRP, and HYPE, declined by 3% to 6%.

Interestingly, Bitcoin’s performance today mirrors that of tech equities, particularly Nvidia, which fell 5% after its CEO, Jensen Huang, resigned over a cheating scandal. 

However, a more impactful incident for Bitcoin is that treasury company MSTR is set to be removed from the MSCI USA index on November 30. This is due to the new rules around holding and investment companies that the index adopted in October. 

The removal means Strategy loses access to passive investors who allocate to MSCI indexes, representing a setback at a time when institutional demand is drying up.

Bitcoin Decline Triggers Over $700 Million in Liquidation.

Meanwhile, the drop in Bitcoin’s value has left futures traders holding the bag, with over $700 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours. According to Coinglass, a total of $717 million worth of positions have been liquidated, with BTC accounting for $282 million.

Long traders were disproportionately impacted, with 95% of Bitcoin liquidations being from long positions. Ethereum accounted for $117 million, while tokenized NVDA recorded over $50 million in liquidations. 

Overall, long traders accounted for 89.5% of liquidation losses, while short traders accounted for only 10.5%. The largest liquidated position was the BTC-USD position on Hyperliquid. 

Unsurprisingly, overall open interest has fallen by 4% in the past 24 hours. However, futures traders are still mostly neutral, with only 50.96% of 24-hour Buy/Sell volume short and 49% long.

This is a sharp contrast from the crypto Fear & Greed Index, which is now at 23/100 and in danger of slipping into extreme fear territory. The index was at 53/100 just one month ago, reflecting how quickly the market can collapse. 

Bitcoin at Risk of Consecutive Yearly Losses 

With Bitcoin now trading at almost 20% below its price at the start of the year, the asset could set an unwanted record in 2026. If it does not see any major recovery, it could have its first back-to-back year losses ever.

Since 2011, Bitcoin has never had a down year twice in a row, with a yearly loss occurring only once every four years. However, it finished 2026 at $87,519, which is 6% below its $93,000 price at the start of that year.

Only a climb above $87,000 between now and December  31 could stop that unwanted record. While most sentiment around the asset is currently bearish, some analysts believe a bull market is underway. 

Crypto analyst Jesse Myers believes that this is an early bull market correction. He noted that with the majority of recent buyers now underwater, a local bottom is forming.

This article provides cryptocurrency market information, not financial or investment advice. Network amendments face approval and implementation risks. Technical indicators and analyst projections do not guarantee future prices.