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Why is Bitcoin dropping? Five forces that pushed BTC below $70,000 on 13 November, and what traders can learn from it

By VoxTradePro Desk · Published 13 Nov 2026, 12:45 UTC+8 · 3 min read

Why is Bitcoin dropping today? BTC slipped under $70K for the first time since August. The five drivers, the liquidation math and what to watch next.

"Why is Bitcoin dropping" is the top Bitcoin question on both Google and Bing autosuggest today, and the timing makes sense. Early on Friday, 13 November, BTC fell to about $69,000, its lowest level since 19 August, according to CoinDesk.

For traders, the useful question is not just "why" but "which of these forces is still active". Some causes fade in a day. Others can keep pressure on the price for weeks.

Key takeaways

Bitcoin broke below $70,000 on 13 November; a CoinGecko snapshot at 12:52 Macau time showed $68,658, down 9.5% over seven days.
More than $1.3 billion of crypto futures were liquidated in 24 hours, with Bitcoin alone at $677 million (CoinDesk, citing Coinglass).
US spot Bitcoin ETFs lost about $1.44 billion over five straight trading days (CoinDesk, citing SoSoValue).
Sentiment is at Extreme Fear: the Crypto Fear & Greed Index read 20 on 13 November (Alternative.me).

Reason 1: The Fed and a strong dollar

The October US CPI report on 10 November showed prices up 0.4% in a month against 0.3% expected, per the BLS data cited by Kriptofoni. That pushed markets toward a December rate hike: CME FedWatch priced about a 90% chance ahead of the 8-9 December meeting (CoinDesk, 12 Nov).

The US Dollar Index then reached its highest level since April 2025 (CoinDesk, 13 Nov). A stronger dollar and higher rates usually drain money from risk assets. We broke down this channel in detail in this morning's Federal Reserve Bitcoin explainer.

Reason 2: ETF money is leaving

Spot Bitcoin ETFs were a big source of buying in earlier rallies. Now the flow is reversed. They saw $299.9 million of outflows on 11 November alone, and BlackRock's IBIT recorded its ninth straight day of redemptions with $269.7 million out (CoinDesk, citing SoSoValue).

When the steadiest buyer turns seller, every dip has less support underneath it.

Reason 3: The tech-stock shock

Bitcoin has been trading like a tech stock. BusinessKorea reports that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned and CFO Colette Kress was named interim CEO, which hit AI and tech shares and spread risk-off mood into crypto. See our earlier report on the Nvidia board story.

The same report notes that MSCI is removing Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, from its MSCI USA and World indexes. We covered that in MSCI drops Strategy.

Reason 4: Geopolitics and oil

CoinDesk linked the Friday acceleration to reports of renewed Middle East escalation, including an Iranian claim of a strike on a US radar in Bahrain. WTI crude held near $88. Oil spikes raise inflation fears, which feeds straight back into Reason 1. Track it on our WTI crude page.

Reason 5: Forced selling from leverage

This is what turns a slow slide into a sharp drop. Of roughly $681 million in liquidations reported on the morning of 13 November, about $599 million were long positions (Kriptofoni, citing CoinGlass). The single biggest was a $31 million BTC long on Hyperliquid (CoinDesk).

A simple worked example

Suppose a trader opened a 20x long at $73,000. At 20x, a move of about 5% against the position wipes out the margin. That puts liquidation near $69,350 (roughly, before fees and maintenance margin). That is almost exactly where Bitcoin traded on Friday morning.

Thousands of positions like this turn into market sell orders at once, pushing the price lower and triggering the next layer. The same trade at 2x would still be open, just showing a loss. Our guides on leverage and margin and position sizing explain how to pick a size that survives normal swings.

What to watch next

$70,000: BusinessKorea calls it a key support level. Whether BTC can reclaim it matters for short-term sentiment. See support and resistance.
ETF flows: a day of net inflows would be the first sign that demand is returning.
The 8-9 December Fed meeting and dollar strength.
Funding and liquidations: another large long flush would show leverage is still too high.

Conclusion

Bitcoin is not dropping for one reason. A hawkish Fed, a strong dollar, ETF outflows, a tech-stock shock and geopolitics all hit at once, and leverage made the fall faster. BTC is still about 45% below its $126,080 all-time high (CoinGecko).

Moves like this are the best time to practise without risking money. You can test leverage, stops and sizing on live prices in the free Vox Trade Pro paper trading simulator, and check the current Bitcoin price.

Sources

Not financial advice. This article is for general information and education only. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any asset. Prices move quickly and figures quoted may already be out of date; markets involve risk, including the loss of capital. See our disclaimer.

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