Bitcoin Price Crashes Below $68K as Crypto Liquidations Hit $1.6B

Bitcoin Plunges to Three-Month Low

Bitcoin’s sell-off, which began Wednesday, continued into Friday, with the world’s largest cryptocurrency plunging below $68,000 as fallout from former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s ouster kept financial markets rattled. The latest decline also pushed cryptocurrency liquidations past $1 billion for the second time in recent days.

According to Bitstamp data, bitcoin tumbled to $67,500 at 1:54 a.m. EST on Nov. 12, its lowest level in nearly three months, before recovering to trade near $68,000. At its intraday low, the cryptocurrency had shed nearly 9% since falling below $74,000 on Nov. 11, extending its month-to-date losses to more than 13%.

Altcoins were hit equally hard. Ethereum (ETH), which had slipped below $2,000 hours earlier, plunged to $1,910, bringing its daily losses to more than 6%. XRP, already nursing double-digit losses before the latest sell-off, briefly breached the psychologically important $1 threshold, extending its weekly decline to more than 15%.

Solana (SOL) also suffered steep losses, sliding from above $83 to $78, while Zcash (ZEC), which had surrendered the $1,000 level earlier in the week, fell to $915. Rival privacy coin Monero (XMR) shed 7% to trade around $519 at 12:28 a.m. EST. Most other major altcoins recorded losses ranging from 4% to 6%, with Hyperliquid (HYPE) and TRX proving relatively resilient, declining 0.8% and 2%, respectively.

The widespread sell-off pushed bitcoin’s market capitalization below $1.38 trillion and dragged the broader cryptocurrency market’s valuation to $2.4 trillion.

Crypto Liquidations Hit $1.41 Billion

Meanwhile, the derivatives market delivered another punishing blow to traders betting on a swift recovery. According to 24-hour Coinglass data, more than $901 million in leveraged bitcoin long positions were liquidated, including nearly $560 million wiped out within just four hours. By comparison, short liquidations totaled only $31 million over the same 24-hour period.

Across the broader cryptocurrency market, total liquidations surged to $1.62 billion, with bullish positions accounting for $1.46 billion, or nearly 90% of the total.

Although many observers have tied crypto’s November downturn to the U.S. midterm elections and the Nvidia saga, others maintain that deeper structural forces—macroeconomic headwinds, institutional selling, and leverage unwinds—are driving the sell-off rather than a routine pullback.

One analyst pointed out that cascading liquidations across bitcoin and the broader market have created a self-reinforcing loop, with margin calls fueling further forced selling and accelerating the decline.

Bitcoin’s price tumbled below $72,000 on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, as cryptocurrency derivatives liquidations topped $650 million over 24 hours.…