Updated Nov 12, 2026, 10:59 p.m. EST. Published Nov 12, 2026, 10:37 p.m. EST.
2 min read
Summary
- Bitcoin dropped under $70,000 early Friday, marking its lowest price point since August 19, while the Dollar Index maintained 19-month highs.
- The market downturn intensified amid news of fresh geopolitical conflict in the Middle East, featuring claims from Iran regarding the destruction of an American early-warning radar located in Bahrain.
- Trading platforms liquidated upwards of $1.3 billion worth of digital asset futures contracts across a 24-hour period.
The downward movement in Bitcoin’s BTC$68,598.53 valuation accelerated on Friday morning as the United States dollar reached its strongest level relative to a basket of foreign currencies since April 2025.
Data from CoinDesk shows the preeminent digital asset by market capitalization sliding to $69,000, which is its weakest position since August 19. Values have experienced a 17% retreat this quarter, erasing a significant portion of the gains achieved during the preceding three months.
The wider digital asset ecosystem felt the impact. Ethereum ETH$1,913.31, holding the second spot by market share, dipped beneath the $2,000 threshold for the first time since August. XRP hovered close to $1, whereas Solana’s SOL token changed hands under $80. Several alternative coins, including GT, Stacks, and XMR, registered losses of 7% or greater.
This decline gained momentum as the Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the greenback against major global currencies, pushed past 103, marking its peak since April 2025. The gauge has climbed roughly 2% from the beginning of October driven by growing expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate increases, a negative factor for risk-on assets sensitive to liquidity changes.
The probability of the Federal Reserve implementing a 50-basis-point rate hike during December has grown following an October consumer price index report that came in hotter than anticipated earlier in the week.
Concurrently, news outlets highlighted a resurgence of military tensions in the Middle East. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) asserted it successfully destroyed a U.S. radar installation designed for early warning situated in Bahrain, acting in retaliation to an airstrike targeting a telecommunications facility located in Sirik.
In statements broadcasted by the semi-official Tasnim news organization, the IRGC characterized the military action as a stern warning directed at the hostile adversary, demanding an immediate halt to what it termed continuous aerial provocations and petroleum smuggling activities within the Strait of Hormuz.
Despite these events, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil maintained trading levels near $88, marking a minor decrease from the peak of $89.15 recorded on Thursday.
Analytics provider Coinglass reported that cryptocurrency derivative wagers exceeding $1.3 billion were forcibly liquidated across trading platforms within a single day. Bitcoin alone was responsible for $677 million of that total.
Roughly $500 million in liquidations materialized precisely as BTC slipped under $70,000, highlighting the excessive concentration of leveraged positions present in the market.
Liquidations take place when a trading venue automatically closes a leveraged position because accumulated losses erode the trader’s required collateral margin. In this scenario, the fall of BTC beneath $70,000 likely pushed numerous long positions past their mandatory collateral thresholds, forcing exchanges to execute sell orders.
The single largest liquidated position exceeded $31 million in value. It represented a long BTC position, or bullish wager, hosted on the decentralized exchange known as Hyperliquid.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/11/13/bitcoin-dips-below-usd70-000-as-selloff-gathers-pace.
