If you opened a crypto app this week and closed it again very quickly, you weren't alone.
Every one of the eight coins we track finished the week lower. Not "a bit soft". Lower by 13% at best and 32% at worst.
Here's the twist: most of the push came from outside crypto. Inflation, interest rates, a strong dollar, and a very strange week for the world's most valuable chip company. Crypto mostly did what it always does with bad news. It turned it up to eleven.
The week in 60 seconds
- Bitcoin fell 15.4% over the seven days to Saturday night, from about $75,750 to $64,120. On Sunday it dipped toward $62,000, its lowest since July.
- Everything else fell harder. Ether lost about 21%, Solana and XRP about 21 to 22%, and Uniswap's UNI lost 32%.
- Inflation came in hotter than expected, so markets started betting the Fed might raise rates again. That's poison for anything risky.
- Leverage made it worse. More than $1.3 billion of crypto futures positions were forcibly closed in 24 hours.
- Nvidia's CEO resigned with immediate effect on Thursday, rattling the AI and tech stocks that crypto often moves with.
The week in numbers
| Pair | Week open | Latest close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| BTC-USD | $75,753.95 | $64,118.79 | -15.36% |
| ETH-USD | $2,236.53 | $1,768.41 | -20.93% |
| SOL-USD | $89.68 | $70.25 | -21.67% |
| XRP-USD | $1.16 | $0.9140 | -21.36% |
| ADA-USD | $0.1815 | $0.1478 | -18.59% |
| AVAX-USD | $8.22 | $7.10 | -13.56% |
| LINK-USD | $10.81 | $8.88 | -17.87% |
| UNI-USD | $7.21 | $4.88 | -32.29% |
Source: Coinbase Exchange daily candles, seven full UTC days ending 2026-11-15. Captured 2026-11-15T18:42:21Z. Sunday's further dip is not included.
Notice the pattern. Bitcoin, the biggest and most traded coin, fell the least of the majors except Avalanche. Smaller coins fell harder. That's normal in a sell-off: when people get nervous, they sell the riskier stuff first and fastest.
What moved, and why
1. Inflation came in hot, and the Fed suddenly looked hungry
Here's the chain reaction, in four steps:
- Prices in the US rose faster than economists expected in October.
- That raised the odds the Federal Reserve raises interest rates in December, possibly by half a percentage point, according to CoinDesk's market report.
- Higher rates make "safe" things like cash and bonds pay more, so investors have less reason to hold risky ones.
- The US dollar got stronger: the Dollar Index climbed above 103, its highest since April 2025, per the same report.
Think of interest rates as gravity for prices. When rates look set to go up, everything speculative gets heavier. Crypto is about as speculative as markets get, so it felt the pull first.
2. Borrowed money turned a slide into a slip
A lot of crypto trading is done with borrowed money (leverage). If you bet $1,000 with 10x leverage, you control $10,000. That feels great on the way up. On the way down, a 10% drop wipes you out completely, and the exchange sells your position automatically to cover the loan.
That forced selling pushes prices lower, which triggers the next batch of forced selling. Dominoes.
On Friday, more than $1.3 billion of crypto futures positions were liquidated in 24 hours, $677 million of them in Bitcoin alone, according to Coinglass data reported by CoinDesk. Nearly $500 million went in the stretch where Bitcoin broke below $70,000.
That's why crypto drops often look like a cliff rather than a slope. The cliff is mostly other people's leverage.
3. The AI trade had a very weird Thursday
On November 12, Nvidia announced that Jensen Huang had resigned as CEO and board member, effective immediately, with CFO Colette Kress stepping in as interim CEO. That's in the company's official announcement filed with the SEC.
Why would a chip company's boardroom move Bitcoin? Because big investors often treat AI stocks and crypto as the same bet: fast-growing, high-risk, high-reward. When one of those wobbles, the money tends to come out of both. A sudden exit at the top of the market's favourite AI company is exactly the kind of surprise that makes people reach for the sell button first and ask questions later.
4. The big funds were already heading for the door
Spot Bitcoin ETFs (the funds that let people own Bitcoin through a normal brokerage account) were already losing money before this week started. They saw $1.28 billion of net outflows in the first week of November, the most since late June, according to Farside data reported by FXStreet.
Add the hangover from late October, when Binance said about $6.3 billion was stolen in the largest crypto hack on record (Al Jazeera), and confidence was already thin going into this week. Binance has said it will cover users' losses from its emergency fund.
What to watch next week
- Tuesday, November 17: Nvidia's quarterly results, still scheduled despite the CEO change, according to the same Nvidia announcement. If the AI trade steadies, crypto may get some breathing room. If it doesn't, expect more of the same.
- Fed speeches and rate-hike odds. The next Fed decision is on December 8 and 9. Every comment between now and then will be read as a clue.
- Liquidation levels. After a flush like this, there's often less leverage left to unwind. That doesn't mean the bottom is in. It does mean the next move may be less violent.
Sources
- CoinDesk: Bitcoin dips below $70,000 as selloff gathers pace (Nov 13, 2026)
- Nvidia: CEO transition announcement, SEC filing exhibit 99.1 (Nov 12, 2026)
- FXStreet: Bitcoin ETFs shed $1.3B in biggest weekly outflow since late June (Nov 9, 2026)
- Al Jazeera: Binance says $6.3bn stolen in biggest crypto heist in history (Oct 30, 2026)
- Analytics Insight: Bitcoin falls to four-month low as liquidations hit $2B
- Federal Reserve: December 2026 calendar
- Weekly prices: Coinbase Exchange public API, daily candles
This article is general market commentary for educational purposes. It is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Crypto assets are volatile and you can lose your entire investment.