Bitcoin fell below $70,000 for the first time since August
On Friday, November 13, Bitcoin fell below $70,000 for the first time in nearly three months. The largest cryptocurrency continued its two-day decline amid concerns about inflation in the US and further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
According to Bloomberg, during trading Bitcoin lost up to 5.4%, dropping to $67,628—the lowest level since August 19. The day before, the cryptocurrency fell by 3.8%. Later, some losses were recovered, and at the start of morning trading in New York the rate was around $69,200.
The sharp decline triggered massive forced liquidations of positions on the cryptocurrency market. According to CoinGlass analytical platform, approximately $1.5 billion of traders' positions who expected cryptocurrency growth were liquidated within 24 hours.
Trader Sean McNulty of AQC Tech explained that after breaching the $70,000 level, mass closing of leveraged long positions began. Forced sales of over $1 billion further accelerated the decline in quotes. The drop also affected other cryptocurrencies: Ethereum lost up to 6% and fell below $2,000.
Investor sentiment is also affected by fears of sustained high inflation in the US, rising yields on US bonds, and weakness in the tech sector of the stock market. Expectations of further monetary policy tightening by the Fed reduce the attractiveness of risky assets, including cryptocurrencies.
The day before, Kurs.com.ua reported Bitcoin falling to $73,500–74,000. At that time, analysts considered the $70,000 level as important support, the loss of which could open the way for further decline to the $65–67 thousand area.
