BlockBeats News, October 13th, Bitfinex released a report stating that last week the Bitcoin price dropped from above $126,000 to below $103,310, marking an 18.1% pullback and triggering the largest liquidation event in cryptocurrency market history by nominal value. Ethereum dropped from $4,750 to $3,500, and various altcoins experienced instant drops of over 80% in illiquidity conditions. Within three hours on October 10th, approximately $1 trillion was wiped out from the entire cryptocurrency market, with the total market cap temporarily dropping from a high of $4.26 trillion in October to $3.3 trillion, with over $19 billion in liquidation positions in a single day.
This sell-off was triggered by aggressive selling pressure in the spot market, exacerbated by escalating trade tensions on October 10th, leading to a 2.5x imbalance between sellers and buyers on major exchanges. The futures market intensified the decline, with cumulative volume discrepancies showing overwhelming dominance of sellers in the spot and perpetual contract markets. Historically, such liquidation-driven panic selling events are typically followed by mechanical rebounds as volatility contracts and over-leveraging is purged. For Bitcoin, reclaiming and holding above $110,000 will confirm the market entering a stabilization phase, opening recovery targets of $117,000–$120,000; failure to hold could lead to a retest of the $100,000 range.
The latest U.S. economic backdrop shows a widening gap between U.S. policy intentions and actual impacts. The Federal Reserve’s September meeting minutes revealed deep divisions within the Federal Open Market Committee on the speed and scale of future interest rate cuts. The majority of policymakers lean towards further easing to address slowing job growth, while a few are concerned about stagnation in inflation control, warning against moving too quickly. Compounding the challenge is the rising uncertainty in economic policy, driven by ongoing U.S. government shutdowns, shifts in tariff policies, and stricter immigration policies. Shutdowns have disrupted key data releases, forcing the market to rely on private indicators to show economic trends: the U.S. economy is cooling but has not yet contracted.
