Bitcoin has sharply reversed course in November 2025, sliding below $90,000 and erasing nearly all of its year-to-date gains. The sell-off comes amid institutional outflows, tightening macro liquidity, and rising concerns that the cryptocurrency may be entering a prolonged cooling phase.
Institutional sentiment appears fragile: large holders, often called whales are cutting exposure precisely as liquidity across global markets weakens. At the same time, traders are signaling a higher-risk environment driven by uncertainty around U.S. Federal Reserve policy and reduced demand for risk assets.
How the Sell-Off Unfolded
Bitcoin’s slide has been driven by a combination of structural and macroeconomic pressures that accelerated over the past two weeks. The first major driver has been shrinking liquidity across both crypto exchanges and traditional financial markets. As expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts cooled, appetite for risk assets faded, prompting market makers and institutional desks to reduce activity. With thinner liquidity, each move downward had a magnified impact, intensifying volatility and speeding up the decline.
At the same time, outflows from major Bitcoin investment vehicles increased, including U.S.-listed ETFs that had previously been a steady source of inflow. According to MarketWatch, this reversal erased all of Bitcoin’s 2025 gains, marking one of the sharpest momentum shifts seen this year. With fewer large buyers absorbing sell pressure, downside moves escalated quickly.
Another key factor has been the surge in forced liquidations of leveraged positions. Data from CoinGlass shows that more than $1.1 billion in leveraged trades were wiped out in a single day, a significant figure in an already low-liquidity environment. CoinDesk also reported a recent record event in which over $19 billion in leveraged positions were cleared within 24 hours, underscoring how quickly leverage can accelerate market declines when sentiment turns risk-off.
Together, these elements created a familiar feedback loop: falling prices reduce liquidity, reduced liquidity increases volatility, and volatility triggers more liquidations and selling. This dynamic has played a major role in past Bitcoin drawdowns during periods of macroeconomic stress, and November’s decline has followed that historical pattern.
Why Analysts Are Worried
Some analysts argue this is not a typical speculative crash, but rather a structural shift in how Bitcoin is traded and owned. Louis LaValle, CEO of Frontier Investments, told MarketWatch, “I don’t think we’re in a crypto winter. I think we’re watching bitcoin grow up […]. What we’re watching […] is a market-structure transition, not a cyclical bear market”.
Kevin Kelly, portfolio manager at Amplify, echoed that sentiment: “Bitcoin is a mature asset class […]. This appears to be a confluence of short-term liquidity issues, sustained selling and eroded sentiment rather than a single catalyst […] risk assets like bitcoin [are] highly sensitive to these conditions”.
What to Watch Next
Technical indicators have also turned cautious. The 50-day moving average is now on the verge of crossing below the 200-day moving average, a death cross pattern that analysts typically associate with bearish momentum. According to CoinDesk, this would be the fourth death cross in the current cycle, and each previous occurrence aligned with a local market bottom.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s roughly 25% decline from its October peak has added pressure on leveraged traders and automated strategies, leaving markets vulnerable to additional volatility if liquidity fails to recover.
Bottom Line
Bitcoin’s latest retreat may represent a pivotal inflection point rather than a routine correction. As macro pressure builds and liquidity remains thin, the question now is whether this downturn is merely a temporary, liquidity-driven pullback, or the start of a broader transition in Bitcoin’s market structure.
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