Bitcoin Below $80,000: $400m in Longs Liquidated as Prices Slide

Bitcoin briefly fell below $80,000 on Saturday, 24 October 2026, triggering more than $400 million in liquidations of leveraged long positions in just four hours, as reports of US evacuations from the Middle East added to pressure on risk assets. The world’s largest cryptocurrency touched a low of about $79,280, according to The Block, before edging back towards $80,000.

On Sunday morning, 25 October, bitcoin was trading at about $80,500, little changed over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data, leaving it around its weakest level in more than a month.

Why Did Bitcoin Fall Below $80,000?

CoinDesk linked the weekend slide to a Wall Street Journal report that the United States was evacuating personnel from embassies and military bases across the Middle East amid intelligence that Iran was preparing attacks on Americans. In a memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton wrote that “the lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages”, CoinDesk reported.

Geopolitical shocks often hit crypto hardest at weekends, when traditional markets are closed and thinner trading can amplify price swings. Tensions in the Gulf have also been pushing up oil prices, as covered in our Strait of Hormuz and oil price report.

How Much Was Liquidated?

According to liquidation data cited by The Block, about $436 million of leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in four hours, of which roughly $404 million were long bets on rising prices. Over 24 hours, liquidations reached about $815 million, affecting more than 201,000 traders.

• Intraday low: about $79,280 (24 October).
• Four-hour liquidations: about $436m, including $404m of longs.
• 24-hour liquidations: about $815m across 201,012 traders.
• Ether: down about 3.8% to around $2,314 on Saturday.
• Sunday price: about $80,500 (CoinGecko).

Liquidations happen when traders who borrowed to bet on prices can no longer meet margin requirements, forcing exchanges to close their positions. When many longs are wiped out at once, the forced selling can push prices lower still, which is why weekend dips can look sharper than the news alone would suggest.

What Are Bitcoin ETFs Showing?

Flows into US spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds turned negative late in the week, with outflows of about $635 million on Thursday and about $138 million on Friday, including roughly $110 million from BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), according to figures cited by The Block. Thanks to earlier inflows, spot bitcoin ETFs still ended the week with net inflows of about $305 million and held about $104 billion in assets. Spot ether ETFs saw net outflows of about $221 million over the week.

For background on how institutional demand has shaped this year’s market, see our reports on bitcoin ETF inflows and BlackRock and JPMorgan’s bitcoin forecast.

What Should Investors Watch Next?

The main drivers in the coming days are likely to be developments in the Middle East, oil prices, and whether ETF outflows continue when US markets reopen on Monday. Bitcoin’s ability to hold the $80,000 area will be watched closely by traders, but short-term moves remain highly unpredictable.

Crypto assets are volatile and can fall sharply in a short time. This article is for information only and is not investment advice. If you are new to investing, our guides on index funds vs ETFs and building an emergency fund explain the basics.

Featured image: a physical bitcoin coin, by Shixart1985 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Illustrative photo.

Sources

• The Block — Crypto longs lose $404 million in four hours as bitcoin briefly slips below $80,000 (24 October 2026).
• CoinDesk — Crypto under weekend pressure, bitcoin slides below $80,000 on U.S. Middle East evacuations (24 October 2026).
• CoinGecko — Bitcoin price (25 October 2026).