Faith in the Abyss: BTC drops under 90k
November 18, 2025, brought a continuation of the correction in the cryptocurrency market, caused by a combination of negative macroeconomic signals, the weakening of the Fed's monetary policy, and excessive financial leverage, which led to mass liquidations but simultaneously created an opportunity for strategic accumulation by institutions.
Cryptocurrency Market Analysis: Review of Events from November 18, 2025
1. Introduction: Sharp Correction in the Digital Asset Market
November 18, 2025, marked the culmination of drops in the digital asset market that had been ongoing for several weeks, leading to the breach of key psychological price barriers for Bitcoin and Ethereum. The sharp sell-off, fueled by a combination of negative macroeconomic signals and internal market weakness, caused a wave of panic among investors and led to mass liquidations of leveraged positions.
Key events from November 18, 2025, can be summarized in the following points:
Breach of key barriers: Bitcoin fell below the psychological level of 90,000 USD for the first time in seven months, thereby erasing all gains made since the beginning of the year.
Liquidation cascade: The value of liquidated leveraged positions in the derivatives market exceeded 1 billion USD in just 24 hours, which significantly deepened the price declines.
Extreme market fear: Investor sentiment reached an extremely negative level, reflected by the Fear & Greed Index, which fell to 11-15 points—the lowest since the collapse of the Terra Luna ecosystem. This comparison is significant because the Terra Luna crash was an existential crisis, whereas the current fear stems mainly from macroeconomic factors and excessive leverage, suggesting a different nature of the crisis.
These events necessitate a deeper examination of the scale and dynamics of the declines to fully understand their implications for market stability in the coming weeks.
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2. Scale and Dynamics of Market Declines
Understanding the depth and pace of the correction is key to assessing its impact on market stability and investor behavior.
2.1. Key Price Indicators
On November 18, 2025, major cryptocurrencies recorded significant losses.
Table 1: Price Performance of Selected Cryptocurrencies (Nov 18, 2025)
| Cryptocurrency | Price (USD) | Change (24h) |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | ~$89,426 | -5.0% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | ~$3,025 | -6.2% |
| Solana (SOL) | $136.72 | -3.45% |
| Cardano (ADA) | $0.4663 | -5.63% |
| XRP | $2.17 | -4.51% |
Source: Synthesis of market data. Prices based on daily lows from Nov 18, 2025.
Data analysis shows that Bitcoin lost almost 29% of its value since the peak reached in October, and its drop below the 90,000 USD level was the first such event in seven months. Ethereum suffered even more severely, losing approximately 35-40% of its value from the peaks achieved in the second half of the year (August/October).
2.2. Mass Liquidations and Increased Volatility
The scale of leveraged position liquidations was one of the main drivers of the declines.
Value of liquidations (24h): 1.03 billion USD
Value of liquidations (7 days): Over 5 billion USD
Dominant positions: Long positions, accounting for 726.5 million USD (over 70%) of liquidated positions.
Largest single liquidation: A BTC-USD position valued at 96.51 million USD on the Hyperliquid exchange.
Such a large scale of liquidations, especially of long positions, indicates excessive use of financial leverage by traders. The forced sale of these positions triggered a domino effect, deepening the correction in a cascading manner.
3. Analysis of Downward Factors: Combination of Macroeconomic Pressure and Internal Market Weakness
The correction of November 18 was the result of the synergy of negative signals flowing from the global economy and structural problems of the cryptocurrency market itself.
3.1. Macroeconomic Environment
Rising risk aversion in global markets created an unfavorable backdrop for speculative assets. Key macroeconomic factors include:
- Uncertainty regarding Federal Reserve policy: Hopes for further monetary policy easing weakened, and the chances of a December interest rate cut fell below 50%. The prospect of maintaining higher interest rates for a longer period weakens investor appetite for high-risk assets.
Strength of the US dollar: A strengthening dollar puts pressure on the prices of USD-denominated assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Seasonal tax pressure: As noted by Rachael Lucas, the approaching end of the calendar year often prompts investors to realize profits or losses for tax purposes.
General "risk-off" sentiment: Declines in US and Asian stock markets were a clear signal of a broader investor flight from risk toward safer assets, such as treasury bonds or gold.
3.2. Structural Market Fragility: The Role of Leverage and Liquidity
Internal market factors significantly exacerbated the scale of the declines.
Analysts from The Kobeissi Letter indicate that excessive leverage levels, with positions utilizing 20x or even 100x leverage, made the market "oversensitive" and susceptible to liquidation cascades. Tom Lee, President of BitMine, formulated a thesis about an internal liquidity crisis, which he termed "crypto QT" (quantitative tightening in the crypto world). According to his thesis, following mass liquidations on October 10, key market makers withdrew, leading to a drastic drop in liquidity. This lack of market depth meant that even moderate selling pressure could cause disproportionately large price movements.
4. Capital Flows and Institutional Investor Reactions
Despite the atmosphere of widespread panic, reactions in the institutional segment were non-uniform.
4.1. Exodus from BTC and ETH ETF Funds
Exchange-traded funds based on Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced record outflows.
Total outflows from crypto-ETFs (during the week): 2.9 billion USD.
Outflows from US BTC ETFs (Nov 17): 255 million USD.
Outflows from the BlackRock IBIT fund (Nov 17): 146 million USD.
Outflows from ETH ETF funds (during the week): 689 million USD.
James Butterfill from CoinShares directly links these outflows to growing macroeconomic uncertainty.
4.2. Capital Rotation: Increased Interest in SOL and XRP ETFs
In contrast to the outflows from BTC and ETH-based funds, newly launched investment products focused on altcoins attracted significant capital.
Inflows into Solana ETFs: 382.05 million USD within three weeks of their launch.
Inflows into the XRP ETF: 250 million USD on the first day of trading.
This phenomenon can be interpreted as capital rotation within the digital asset ecosystem, although caution should be exercised in assessing whether this is a lasting change in sentiment.
4.3. Institutional Accumulation During Declines
Other entities used the price drops as an opportunity for strategic accumulation.
Table 2: Selected Institutional Purchases During the Correction Period
| Institution | Asset Purchased | Quantity | Value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| MicroStrategy (Strategy Inc.) | Bitcoin (BTC) | 8,178 | ~835.6 million USD |
| BitMine Immersion Technologies | Ethereum (ETH) | 54,000 | ~162 million USD* |
| El Salvador | Bitcoin (BTC) | 1,090 | ~100 million USD |
*Estimated value, based on the ETH price around 3000 USD during the correction period.
These movements demonstrate a long-term, strategic belief in the fundamental value of Bitcoin and Ethereum, contrasting with short-term market panic. These actions suggest that the largest proponents of digital assets view the current correction as healthy and creating an opportunity to increase involvement at lower prices.
5. Long-Term Perspective: Regulatory and Technological Development
The foundations of the digital asset ecosystem are continuously shaped by advancements in key areas of regulation and technology, which may have a significantly greater impact on the future of the industry than daily price fluctuations.
5.1. Key Regulatory Progress in the USA
One of the most important events on November 18 was the publication of Interpretive Letter No. 1186 by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). This document formally allowed national banks in the USA to hold cryptocurrencies for the purpose of:
Paying network fees (known as "gas fees") associated with the execution of permitted blockchain operations.
Holding minimal quantities of digital assets necessary for testing technological platforms.
This is a key step toward deeper integration of traditional banking with distributed ledger technology (DLT) networks. This step, combined with other positive signals, such as the GENIUS Act regarding stablecoins signed in July, creates an increasingly clear legal framework for financial institutions in the United States.
5.2. Innovation and Ecosystem Development
The technological development of key ecosystems is not slowing down.
The upcoming Ethereum upgrade "Fusaka": Aims to further improve the network, including increasing throughput for Layer 2 (L2) solutions.
The "Kohaku" project for increased privacy: Vitalik Buterin presented the concept of a toolkit intended to provide users with real transaction privacy while limiting the potential use of the network for illegal activities.
- Increase in L2 transactionality: Layer 2 solutions demonstrate increasing capabilities, for example, AppChain Lighter achieved a throughput of 5,000 transactions per second (TPS).
6. Summary and Future Perspectives
The events of November 18, 2025, were the result of a toxic combination of global risk aversion, macroeconomic uncertainty, and the structural fragility of the cryptocurrency market, fueled by excessive financial leverage. The market is currently under the influence of strong, opposing forces that will shape its trajectory:
Negative factors: Extreme fear among retail investors, mass liquidations, record capital outflows from Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF funds, and persistent macroeconomic pressure.
Positive factors: Strategic accumulation of BTC and ETH by key institutions, increasing regulatory clarity in the USA (e.g., OCC Interpretive Letter No. 1186), and the uninterrupted technological development of key ecosystems.
Short-term panic clashes with signals of long-term institutional adoption and fundamental technological growth. The coming weeks will show whether the current correction is a healthy market cleansing or a harbinger of a longer downturn.
FAQ
What were the main causes of the continued correction in the cryptocurrency market on November 18, 2025?
The main causes of the continued correction were the toxic combination of external macroeconomic pressure and internal market weakness. Macroeconomic factors included uncertainty regarding Federal Reserve policy (a drop in the chances of interest rate cuts) and the strengthening of the US dollar. Internally, the market was fragile due to excessive leverage levels (20x, 100x leverage) and a liquidity crisis, termed "crypto QT," resulting from the withdrawal of market makers following previous liquidations.
What was the scale of leveraged position liquidations on that day?
The scale of liquidations was massive, deepening price declines. The value of liquidated leveraged positions in the derivatives market exceeded 1 billion USD in just 24 hours. Over the course of the week, the liquidation value surpassed 5 billion USD. Long positions were dominant, accounting for over 70% of the liquidated capital, totaling 726.5 million USD.
How did financial institutions react to these declines?
Institutional reactions were non-uniform. On the one hand, record capital outflows were noted from regulated Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF funds, totaling 2.9 billion USD during the week. On the other hand, key entities such as MicroStrategy (purchase of 8,178 BTC), BitMine, and El Salvador used the price drops as an opportunity for strategic accumulation of BTC and ETH, suggesting a long-term belief in these assets. Additionally, capital rotation was observed into newly launched altcoin ETFs, such as Solana and XRP.
Were there any positive technological or regulatory changes besides the price declines?
Yes, significant regulatory and technological advancements took place concurrently. In the United States, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published Interpretive Letter No. 1186, which formally allowed national banks to hold cryptocurrencies for operational purposes (e.g., paying network fees). Technologically, the Ethereum ecosystem continued development, preparing for the "Fusaka" upgrade and presenting the "Kohaku" project, aimed at increasing transaction privacy. Layer 2 (L2) solutions also demonstrated significant scalability, such as AppChain Lighter achieving 5,000 transactions per second.
Disclaimer
This content is intended to enrich readers' information and is purely informational. It does not constitute financial, legal, or any other form of advice intended for specific use. Cryptocurrency trading involves high risk and volatility. The historical performance of an asset does not determine its anticipated future results. Always conduct your own research and use funds you can afford to lose before making an investment. All actions related to the buying and selling of Bitcoin and other investments in cryptocurrency assets are the responsibility of the reader.
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