Bitcoin Falls as $1.18 Billion Crypto Liquidations Hit Markets

Bitcoin extended its weeklong decline, sliding to its lowest level since July as renewed U.S.-China trade tensions and heavy outflows forced a fresh wave of selloffs in crypto markets.

According to CryptoSlate According to the data, Bitcoin fell more than 5% in the past 24 hours to $103,300 after trading near $112,000 earlier in the week. Ethereum also lost ground, falling 9% to around $3,600.

Meanwhile, Binance’s BNB slipped 11% to $1,048, while XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, Tron, and Cardano each lost more than 7% during the same period.

Data from Coinglass shows the selloff triggered approximately $1.18 billion in leveraged liquidations over the past 24 hours. Notably, long traders speculating on a market rebound suffered most of the losses, losing around $917 million in total.

This performance comes a week after the crypto market experienced a major crash that shook investor sentiment. On October 10, crypto investors lost nearly $20 billion after President Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on China.

What caused the latest Bitcoin price drop?

The sharp market downturn may be linked to a combination of macro and structural triggers impacting the crypto sector.

Bitfinex analysts said CryptoSlate that markets have become increasingly responsive to geopolitical developments. They noted that President Trump’s confirmation of the new tariffs had reinforced fears of economic decoupling.

According to them:

“In the near term, we expect bouts of knee-jerk volatility, with any selling pressure in stocks spilling over into crypto, tightening liquidity and weighing on leveraged positions. If yield curves steepen and credit risk premia widen, BTC could face some profit-taking before resuming an upward trajectory.”

Meanwhile, institutional investor sentiment also appears to be deteriorating, with Bitcoin and Ethereum spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) seeing combined outflows of around $600 million.

According to data from SoSo Value, US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $536 million in outflows on October 16, marking their largest daily withdrawal since August.

Ark Invest’s ARKB led the outflows with $275.15 million, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC, which saw $132 million withdrawn. Grayscale’s GBTC and Grayscale Mini BTC products saw $44.97 million and $22.52 million in outflows, respectively, while BlackRock’s IBIT lost $29.37 million.

Other funds also saw slight declines, including Bitwise’s BITB at $20.58 million and VanEck’s HODL at $6.12 million.

Meanwhile, Invesco’s BTCO, Franklin Templeton’s EZBC, Valkyrie’s BRRR and WisdomTree’s BTCW reported no net flows for the period.

Considering this, Timothy Misir, head of research at BRN, said CryptoSlate that the evolution of ETF demand has transformed “a temporary pause into a structural headwind”.

He warned that if combined buybacks exceed $1 billion within 48 hours, or if miner sales resume, Bitcoin could test the $96,000 region before stabilizing.