Crypto Market Suffers 'Bloodbath,' Reasons Behind Bitcoin's Sharp Decline Explained

BlockBeats news, November 15, according to HTX market data, Bitcoin fell to touch $62,000 at one point, down over 8% in 24 hours, while Ethereum fell over 10% in 24 hours. In the past 24 hours, total liquidations across the network exceeded $2 billion, with over 320,000 people liquidated. This round of selling was not triggered by a single event: U.S. spot crypto ETFs have seen net outflows for multiple consecutive days, the market has shifted from betting on a single rate hike in December to pricing in subsequent hikes, and the price decline triggered large-scale long liquidations.

The interest rate market has begun pricing in multiple Federal Reserve rate hikes. U.S. October CPI rose 0.4% month-on-month, with core CPI up 0.3% month-on-month, both above market expectations. The Financial Times reported that as of Friday, the interest rate market had fully priced in a 25 basis point Fed rate hike in December and largely priced in another hike in January next year; a week earlier, the probability of a January hike was only about 10%. Bank of America Global Research expects the Fed to raise rates by 25 basis points each in December, January next year, and March, for a cumulative 75 basis points.

Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs continued to see outflows. As of November 13, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs had net outflows for 7 consecutive trading days, totaling approximately $1.91 billion; weekly net outflows were $1.07 billion, exceeding $1 billion for the second consecutive week. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs also saw net outflows of approximately $399 million for the week, recording net outflows for the seventh consecutive week. The current round of net outflows from Bitcoin ETFs began on November 5, earlier than the release of U.S. CPI and Jensen Huang's resignation as NVIDIA CEO, meaning that buying through ETF channels had already weakened before these two events occurred.

The tech stock selloff may have spilled over into crypto positions, while long liquidations amplified the decline. BitMine Chairman Tom Lee believes that the selloff in NVIDIA and other semiconductor stocks may have triggered margin calls, particularly affecting Asian retail investors. Tom Lee also listed the $6.3 billion crypto asset theft case at Binance as a potential factor: after the relevant account funds became available again, some holders may have shifted to cash or stablecoins.

The Anthropic IPO may divert funds. Anthropic plans to raise up to approximately $90.4 billion through an IPO and concurrent private placement, and according to Bloomberg, subscription orders were about 6 times the shares available for sale. Tom Lee believes that some investors may sell stocks in advance to raise funds; if Robinhood receives a relatively large allocation, some retail investors may also sell crypto assets to participate in the subscription.

Strategy will be removed from the MSCI USA Index. MSCI confirmed in its November index review that Strategy (MSTR) will be removed from the MSCI USA Index, with the adjustment effective after the U.S. market close on November 30. Strategy previously disclosed that funds tracking the relevant MSCI index held approximately 13 million shares, accounting for 3.1% of its issued basic shares; JPMorgan previously estimated that the removal could bring about $2.8 billion in passive selling. The index adjustment does not require Strategy to sell Bitcoin. For the Bitcoin market, what is more noteworthy is that if reduced passive buying keeps pressuring the stock price, Strategy's ability to raise funds by issuing shares to increase Bitcoin holdings may weaken.

Stablecoins continue to shrink, reducing buying power on the sidelines. According to DefiLlama data, as of November 15, the total circulating supply of USD stablecoins was approximately $287.1 billion, down about $4.4 billion over the past 7 days and about $16 billion over the past 30 days, a cumulative decline of about $25.8 billion from the May peak. Among them, USDT fell about $8.1 billion over the past 30 days, while USDC fell about $3.6 billion. Circle's official website data shows that as of November 12, USDC redemptions exceeded issuances by about $3.9 billion over the past 30 days, indicating that these funds were redeemed for US dollars rather than merely transferred between different chains. Glassnode previously noted that in the 30 days ending November 9, stablecoin supply decreased by $14.2 billion, the fastest contraction since June 2022. Stablecoins are typically viewed as potential buying power in the market, and their contraction means it will be harder for funds to step in and absorb selling after prices break below support.

A stronger dollar and rising US Treasury yields are weighing on non-yielding assets. As of the close on November 13, the dollar index stood at 103.41, the highest since April 2025; the US 10-year Treasury yield was 5.154%, having risen as high as 5.174% intraday. Federal Reserve Governor Waller said on the day the CPI was released that even if inflation improves, he would lean toward supporting a 25 basis point rate hike in December; if core CPI rises by about 0.3% or more month over month, a 50 basis point hike should be considered. The data subsequently released landed exactly at that threshold.