Bitcoin breaks below $70,000 for the first time since August as rate-hike bets build and more than $1.3 billion in crypto bets are liquidated

Bitcoin's slide deepened on Thursday night. The largest cryptocurrency fell 6.3% to about $69,101 by 10:40pm ET, Investing.com reported, trading below $70,000 for the first time since mid-August. CoinDesk put the low near $69,000, the weakest level since August 19. Earlier in the day it had dipped to about $71,300, CoinDesk reported.

The drop forced out leveraged traders. More than $1.3 billion in crypto futures positions were liquidated over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data cited by CoinDesk, including $677 million in bitcoin and nearly $500 million as the price broke below $70,000. The largest single liquidation was a bitcoin long of more than $31 million on Hyperliquid. Ether fell below $2,000 for the first time since August.

Both outlets pointed to interest rates. After October consumer prices rose faster than expected, CME FedWatch data showed traders pricing in a December rate increase of a quarter to a half point, Investing.com said. The dollar index traded above 103, its highest since April 2025, CoinDesk reported. The selling followed outflows from US spot bitcoin ETFs of about $300 million on Wednesday, CoinDesk reported.