Bitcoin has fallen below the $80,000 level, trading near $78,400 after news of the massive Binance security breach triggered a wave of forced selling across crypto markets. Data from CoinGlass shows roughly $1.54 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated in 24 hours, around $1.3 billion of them bullish bets. Follow the market reaction in our crypto news section.
A Leverage Unwind in Fast Motion
The mechanics of the drop were classic crypto: falling prices forced leveraged long positions to close, and those closures pushed prices lower still. About 239,000 traders were liquidated in the 24-hour window, with the largest single position — an $11 million bitcoin trade on Binance itself — wiped out as the market slid. Bitcoin bounced from an intraday low near $76,300 but remained below the psychological $80,000 line.
Traders are now watching resistance around $80,200 and support near $76,300 and $73,000, the region of the 200-day moving average. A decisive recovery above $80,000 would ease nerves; another leg down would invite comparisons with previous exchange-shock drawdowns.
Two Shocks at Once: the Hack and the Fed
The breach landed on a market already digesting the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold rates at 3.75 to 4.00 percent, with two officials dissenting in favour of a hike. Bitcoin had slipped below $80,000 after the decision before the Binance news accelerated the decline, making it hard to apportion blame precisely between macro policy and the exchange shock.
Analysis in crypto market reporting suggests the liquidation pattern — concentrated, violent and derivatives-led — points more to the hack than to the rate decision. Notably, US spot bitcoin ETFs still attracted inflows during the sell-off, including about $17 million on October 29, hinting that longer-term buyers are treating the dip as an opportunity.
Where the Bitcoin Market Goes From Here
Bitcoin now sits about a third below its record high set in October 2025, a reminder of how quickly sentiment in this market can invert. Exchange-security fears tend to fade if customer funds are made whole — Binance has pledged exactly that — but each new incident reopens questions about counterparty risk that push some investors towards self-custody and regulated products.
For the coming week, traders will watch the December Fed meeting expectations, the pace of the Binance fund recovery, and whether ETF inflows persist. In crypto, calm is usually temporary; the question is which headline arrives next.
Bitcoin’s slide below $80,000 was less a verdict on the asset than a stress test of the market’s leverage. The coming days will show whether the Binance shock was a one-day storm or the start of a longer squall.
