Good morning! Here’s what happened in the crypto market during the Asian morning session — and trust me, it was one of those days where the charts made everyone grab their coffee a little tighter.
The crypto market woke up shaky, with sentiment sliding deep into extreme fear. Bitcoin dropped below $97,000, touching levels last seen in early May. It’s now sitting near $97,375, down over 4% in the past 24 hours. More than $1 billion in market liquidations hit traders overnight most of it long positions getting wiped out as prices dipped sharply.
Ethereum, Solana, and other major altcoins also felt the heat, falling as selling pressure and panic spread across the market. When BTC sneezes, the rest of the market catches the flu — and that’s exactly what happened today.
A big reason for the early-morning shakeout was the massive derivatives expiry. Around 41,000 BTC options expired with a notional value close to $4 billion, while 228,000 ETH options expired worth about $730 million. These expiries often bring sharp swings, and today was no different.
On top of that, ETF flows made things worse. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $870 million in outflows, the second-largest exit ever recorded. Ethereum ETFs also posted $260 million in outflows for a third straight day. Only Solana ETFs managed a tiny inflow of $1.49 million, which wasn’t enough to balance the broader selling pressure.
So what triggered this sudden drop? A mix of factors hit the market all at once.
The U.S. inflation numbers came in hotter than expected bad news for risk assets. Hopes of a December rate cut basically evaporated overnight, and liquidity started drying up. This pushed traders into risk-off mode.
Fears of a possible AI bubble, SoftBank’s reported exit from Nvidia, and warnings flashing in the bond market created a ripple effect across global markets. Stocks dumped, and as usual, crypto dumped harder.Heavy leverage in the system added fuel to the fire once prices started dropping, long positions got liquidated, which triggered more sell-offs.
Altcoins took even more damage. Many traders closed out alt positions to cover losses or reduce risk, leading to a broader market slump.
Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb said today’s downturn is far easier compared to 2022, when LUNA, 3AC, FTX, BlockFi, and major lenders collapsed. He noted the system is stronger now, with better liquidity and cleaner fundamentals.
The U.S. accounting board (FASB) is reviewing whether to add “crypto asset transfers” to its agenda, which could expand 2023’s crypto accounting rules and give companies clearer guidance on how to record and derecognize digital assets.
Canary Capital’s XRPC ETF surprised the market with $58 million in day-one trading volume, making it the biggest ETF debut of the year. It even surpassed Bitwise’s Solana ETF performance.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest scooped up 542,269 shares of Circle (CRCL) worth around $46 million, taking advantage of the stock dipping below $90. It signals strong confidence in USDC’s future.
Aave Labs became one of the first major DeFi teams to secure authorization under the EU’s MiCA regulation, allowing them to operate regulated stablecoin ramps across Europe — a big step for DeFi legitimacy.
Analyst @SpecterAnalyst accused BTX Capital and founder Vanessa Cao of manipulating POPCAT on Hyperliquid using a massive $25M buy wall. The move reportedly caused $4.9M in liquidations, and wallet traces point to past manipulation incidents.
In a surprising political twist, the President of Belarus suggested the country should mine Bitcoin to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar, adding geopolitical momentum to BTC adoption.
Today’s market felt rough no sugarcoating that. Prices dropped, leverage got wiped out, and fear spiked hard. But underneath the volatility, the crypto ecosystem is still pushing forward with regulations, ETF launches, institutional interest, and major approvals like MiCA.
Corrections like this hurt in the moment, but they also clean up excess heat and prepare the market for the next strong move.
Happy weekend, stay safe, stay calm, and keep an eye on the charts!
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