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Jiang Zhuoer, founder of the BTC.TOP mining pool, liquidated all holdings in small-cap decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens during the morning session rebound on November 15. The move followed Bitcoin’s intraday drop to $62,081, a level that breached key technical support zones identified by the trader. Zhuoer stated that while the financial losses from the sell-off were manageable, the speed of the market decline exceeded his expectations.
As of 12:53 UTC, Bitcoin traded at $65,420, -2.4% over 24 hours, with $56.2 billion in 24-hour volume.
Following the sale of the DeFi assets, Zhuoer announced a temporary break from active trading. He described his remaining portfolio as hedged, consisting of a 100% long position in Ethereum, a 100% long position in Bitcoin, and a 200% short position in Bitcoin. This structure was designed to protect his existing holdings of BTC and ETH, while leaving the small-cap DeFi tokens outside the hedging arrangement. Initially, Zhuoer had planned to close the short position if Bitcoin returned to its previous trading levels, but the continued decline prevented that action.
Technical Breakdown and Market Reaction
The November 15 session saw Bitcoin fall below several critical support levels cited by Zhuoer. The price dropped under the $63,853 point of control and the $64,100 support level, which was derived from a 78.6% Fibonacci retracement. In a post on November 14, Zhuoer had characterized the market as an underdeveloped or premature bull market. He had set an invalidation threshold at $61,576, based on a volume-area-low reading, noting that the distance from this threshold to the eventual low was approximately $505, or roughly 0.8%.
Bitcoin reached its intraday low of $62,081 on November 15 before recovering to around $65,400. Zhuoer warned that if the market is in the later stages of a bear cycle, a fall below $57,800 could trigger further losses for smaller DeFi cryptocurrencies. The broader market experienced significant volatility, with the price of Bitcoin down nearly 14% over the preceding seven days.
Liquidations and ETF Outflows
The sharp price action resulted in substantial forced liquidations across the crypto market. Records indicate that $1.96 billion in positions were liquidated over a 24-hour period on November 15. Of this total, nearly $750 million was tied to Bitcoin, with almost $600.5 million involving long positions. These figures reflect the leverage dynamics present in the market during the decline.
Capital outflows from institutional products also marked the period. Data showed roughly $1.91 billion in withdrawals from US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds across seven sessions ending November 13. Friday alone accounted for $185.4 million in withdrawals from these funds. Additionally, the Coinbase premium discount persisted for 51 consecutive days by November 13, with Bitcoin trading 0.10% below the comparable price on Binance at the latest reading.
Yishi, the founder of OneKey, advised investors to avoid leverage and speculative altcoins during this period. He recommended holding Bitcoin in spot form and maintaining sufficient cash reserves for living expenses. Meanwhile, Zhuoer addressed circulating rumors regarding the source of the selling pressure. He rejected allegations that Binance deliberately sold cryptocurrency to recover funds from its October security breach, arguing that prices on the exchange were not substantially lower than those on other major platforms.
Zhuoer questioned whether the persistent discount on Coinbase was caused by bankruptcy, a margin call, or access to non-public information. He noted that he did not identify a specific institution or provide evidence for the theory that a major US entity was forced to sell crypto. He also challenged speculation that Strategy pledged its own shares as collateral for corporate borrowing, stating that public filings did not show such an arrangement and pointed instead to convertible bonds and other financing methods. Zhuoer’s comments left the specific cause of the institutional outflows unresolved, with no further procedural steps or official confirmations provided regarding the identity of the selling entity.
