Key Highlights
Bitcoin traders saw their biggest losses since the FTX crash, with over $2 billion in liquidations.
Over 403,000 traders were wiped out as Bitcoin fell sharply to around $82,000.
Smart-money wallets turned bearish, while spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $903 million in outflows.
Bitcoin investors are now facing their biggest losses since the fall of the FTX exchange, with realized losses rising sharply across the market, according to new data from Glassnode. This means traders are closing positions as the price keeps dropping, and they do not want to risk losing even more.
Currently, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading for $85,168. This is a 6% drop in the last 24 hours and an 11% drop in the last seven days. This fall has pushed many short-term buyers into panic selling.
$BTC realized losses have surged to levels last seen during the FTX collapse, with short-term holders driving the bulk of the capitulation. The scale and speed of these losses reflect a meaningful washout of marginal demand as recent buyers unwind into the drawdown.… pic.twitter.com/hAmZPOM5XZ— glassnode (@glassnode) November 21, 2025
About $2 billion liquidated in 24 hours
Over $2.2 billion in leveraged trades have been liquidated from the market as a result of the fall. According to data from Coinglass, long positions absorbed most of the damage, with $2.01 billion cleared out, while short positions saw losses of $197 million.
More than 403,511 traders were affected, including one large $36.7 million position on the Hyperliquid exchange in the BTC/USD pair.
Total Market Liquidation | Source: Coinglass
Glassnode also noted that Bitcoin has now dropped below the average price paid by active investors, which has pushed it into what analysts call a “capitulation zone.” This is when many holders decide to exit because they cannot handle more losses.
Timothy Misir, Head of Research at BRN, also confirmed this in a statement, saying, “Digital gold is now in a capitulation zone, and the market is trading on forced liquidations rather than rational pricing.” He added that the timing of any recovery would depend on the return of institutional buyers.
$903 million outflow in BTC ETF
Spot bitcoin ETFs saw major outflows as well. According to data from Farside Investors, a total of $903 million left these funds. This is the second-largest withdrawal since the launch of the Spot Bitcoin ETF in 2024.
At the same time, stronger U.S. economic numbers have reduced hopes for more rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, Kevin Hassett, the White House’s nominee for Fed chair, warned that stopping rate cuts too soon would hurt the economy.
He stated that the government shutdown likely cut fourth-quarter GDP by about 1.5 percentage points and that many Americans skipped Thanksgiving travel because of the disruption.
I don’t really think that we have a full handle on how destructive this shutdown will be for fourth quarter GDP,” he said. “We’re super optimistic about the future, but I think it’d be a very bad time for the Fed to pause.”
Additionally, smart-money wallets are reacting to the drop. Nansen data shows whales are 53% short on Bitcoin, while retail traders remain mostly long.
Smart money vs Public vs Whales positioning rnData: @nansen_aiNo matter what, good morning to all ya.BTC at $84k (-2.77%)Smart money 91% SHORT while public still 63% LONGWhales 53% short tooETH at $2,745 (-3.17%)This one’s interesting. Smart money 76% LONG but public… pic.twitter.com/JEczzKGqQ6— 0xjayfi (@0xjayfi) November 21, 2025
Meanwhile, Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, showed the opposite pattern, with smart money 76% long and retail 93% short. Solana, which slipped to $125.24, saw heavy short interest among both groups. HYPE tokens also dropped toward $32.81 but stayed active through trading and token burns.
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