Bitcoin slips below $80,000 to its weakest level in over a month as the US speeds Middle East evacuations, and $820 million in crypto bets are liquidated
Bitcoin dropped below $80,000 on Saturday, its weakest level in more than a month. CoinDesk put it at about $79,700, down 2.2% over 24 hours, with ether, XRP and solana each down roughly 3 to 4 percent.
CoinDesk linked the weekend slide to a Wall Street Journal report on Saturday morning that the US is rapidly evacuating personnel from embassies and military bases across the Middle East, on intelligence that Iran is preparing attacks on Americans. That goes beyond earlier reports of some diplomatic staff being ordered out of Saudi Arabia.
Leveraged traders took the hit. CoinGlass data cited by Crypto Times showed about $820.78 million in crypto positions liquidated over the 24 hours to 19:01 UTC, $686.93 million of them bets on higher prices. Bitcoin's 24-hour range was about $79,263 to $81,445, per CoinGecko.
The drop follows two days of outflows from US spot bitcoin ETFs: $635.6 million on Thursday and $137.9 million on Friday, per Farside Investors, though the funds still took in a net $301.2 million for the week.
What to watch: the Federal Reserve meets October 27 and 28, and ETF flows resume Monday.
This story is reporting and analysis. It is not financial, legal or tax advice.
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