Crypto market liquidations cross $520M as BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL drop again

The crypto market gave up all of its gains from Monday during U.S. trading hours on Tuesday, as over $400 million in long liquidations wiped out bullish momentum and dragged major tokens back into the red.

Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, slipped to an intraday low of $102,461 on Wednesday, Nov. 12, down nearly 5% from its Tuesday high above $107K, as it gave back all the gains sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s “tariff dividend” remarks and growing optimism around a possible end to the U.S. government shutdown. The bellwether had slightly recovered since then and was trading at $103,251 at press time, still down 2% over the past 24 hours.

Ethereum (ETH) was down 3.2%, trading at $3,450, while other large-cap altcoins such as XRP (XRP), BNB (BNB), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE) were down between 3-6%. Only three out of the top 100 cryptocurrencies managed to stay in the green for the day.

The combined outflows from the total crypto market dragged it down by 2.1% to $3.56 trillion at the time of writing as it faced nearly $525 million in liquidations amid macroeconomic pressures. Out of this, around $402 million came from long liquidations, signaling that bullish traders were caught off guard by the sudden drop. When long positions get liquidated, it often triggers a chain reaction of forced selling that can put pressure on the related asset’s prices and deepen market losses.

Market sentiment has turned largely bearish as traders remain fearful of large long liquidations, especially after last month’s massive $19 billion wipeout, which dragged the crypto market down by more than 14% in a single day. The closely watched Crypto Fear & Greed Index lost 2 points in the past 24 hours and has moved back to the “Extreme Fear” zone.

The crypto market dipped as traders booked profits en masse following Monday’s rally, with many stepping back to digest reports that China’s cybersecurity agency has accused the U.S. government of stealing around $13 billion worth of Bitcoin from the LuBian mining pool, one of the most notorious crypto heists in recent memory.

Investors remain wary about whether China will take any retaliatory action against the U.S. government, which could further strain relations at a time when the two economies are already grappling with unresolved tariff issues and delays in finalizing a trade agreement.

SoftBank sells entire $5.8B stake in Nvidia

Traders have further leaned into a risk-off sentiment after Japanese investment bank SoftBank revealed it sold its entire $5.8 billion stake in Nvidia, driving the stock of the world’s most valuable company down by nearly 3% today. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index dropped by 200 points, while the S&P 500 lost 20 points in the session.

Meanwhile, the market capitalization of artificial intelligence-focused cryptocurrencies, one of the core themes in the broader crypto industry, has declined by 5.5% over the past 24 hours to $26.6 billion. Tokens like Story (IP), Bittensor (TAO), and Render (RENDER) led the losses, among other popular AI-related assets.

For the uninitiated, tech stocks and crypto markets often moved in tandem, as both are widely regarded as higher-risk assets that tend to react similarly to shifts in investor sentiment.