Bitcoin closed below its 50-week moving average on Sunday for the first time in eight weeks, then briefly traded below $74,000 on Monday morning, according to The Block’s November 9, 2026 report. The break followed seven consecutive weekly closes above the technical level.
The pullback coincided with heavy liquidations of bullish crypto positions and a week of net withdrawals from U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs. Those figures document leverage losses and fund outflows, but do not establish a single cause for the price decline.
Long positions bear most of the liquidation losses
CoinGlass recorded more than $1.15 billion in total crypto liquidations over 24 hours, including $1.04 billion in longs and $117 million in shorts. Across the period, 167,764 traders were liquidated.
Ether positions accounted for more than $500 million in liquidations, compared with around $309 million for bitcoin. The largest individual liquidation was a $48.2 million ETH-USDT long on Binance.
The totals come with a reporting caveat: liquidation data is incomplete. The source noted that exchanges including Binance and OKX still underreport in intermittent bursts, meaning actual losses were likely higher.
Bitcoin ETFs record their largest weekly outflow since late June
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs finished the preceding week with $1.28 billion in net outflows, their largest weekly withdrawal since late June, according to The Block’s Saturday reporting.
The 12 funds recorded net outflows on four of the five trading days. That pushed their combined 2026 balance into negative territory, at $914.1 million in year-to-date net outflows. BlackRock’s IBIT alone recorded $403 million in outflows on Friday.
These ETF figures cover the preceding trading week, while the liquidation figures cover a 24-hour window. They are separate measures, not a combined tally of selling pressure.
What earlier breaks below the average show—and do not show
Alex Thorn, Galaxy’s head of firmwide research, said bitcoin’s weekly close was approximately 0.7% below its 50-week moving average of $75,488. Bitcoin had reclaimed that level on September 20 before holding above it for seven consecutive weeks.
Thorn compared the break with setbacks during the 2011–2012 and 2019–2020 bear-market recoveries:
- 2011–2012: After initially reclaiming the average, bitcoin spent another 20 weeks below it and fell as much as 35% beneath the line.
- 2019–2020: Bitcoin slipped back below the average five times, including an eight-week stretch during the Covid crash.
In both cases, the earlier bear-market low held on a weekly closing basis, Thorn said. But the paths differed substantially in duration and depth. He also cautioned that his sample covered only five reclaims and that a bottom is identifiable only in hindsight.
Galaxy’s bullish view remained conditional
The source identified bitcoin’s previous low for the current cycle as $59,517 on June 28. Galaxy had argued in October that the bear market was over, citing its view that selling pressure had diminished and the debasement case had strengthened.
That was Galaxy’s assessment, not a confirmed cycle outcome. On Monday, Thorn said his October bullish technical case would remain valid if bitcoin regained the 50-week moving average within a month.
The historical comparison therefore offers context rather than a forecast: earlier recoveries survived renewed breaks below the average, but those episodes do not establish that the June low will hold in this cycle.
Original publication: November 9, 2026, at 21:03:19 UTC+08:00. Read the original article at The Block.