Bitcoin tumbled below $86,000 in Asian trading on Monday, even as regional stocks opened the final month of 2025 on a steadier footing, buoyed by growing optimism that the US is close to its next interest rate cut.
After hovering near $91,000 at the end of November, Bitcoin had been slipping lower in small steps, a sign of fatigue rather than capitulation.
That changed when a wave of selling punched through several intraday support levels and drove prices toward the $86,900 area, with a sharp spike in sell volume pointing to forced liquidations or large stop orders getting triggered.
Coinglass data shows a major wipeout in the past 24 hours, with about $608m in crypto liquidations.
Longs took the hit, accounting for more than $535m, while shorts saw only about $73m. Bitcoin and Ethereum led the move, with roughly $185m and $154m cleared out.
For highly leveraged traders, the move felt less like a tidy pullback and more like a trapdoor that reset positioning going into December.
Equity markets looked calmer. MSCI’s broad index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed, but is still up 23.5% so far this year and on track for its strongest annual gain since 2017.
Japan’s Nikkei slipped about 1.3% in early trade, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose more than 1%, helping offset softer US equity futures.
A rally in metal stocks helped Chinese shares start the month on a slightly brighter note, even as the latest factory data showed activity remained in contraction in November.
Investors stayed wary of the country’s property sector after China Vanke reportedly failed to secure a short term bank loan, keeping credit worries in the background.
The broader tone across global markets is being set in Washington. Investors are positioning ahead of a heavy run of US data this week that will cover manufacturing and services, as well as consumer confidence and early readings on holiday spending from Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Attention is also fixed on the Federal Reserve. Traders are looking to remarks from Chair Jerome Powell later in the day for clues on the policy meeting in mid-December, with recent dovish comments from officials helping cement the view that another cut is likely. Pricing in futures markets now implies an 87% chance of a move this month.
The week’s releases will arrive against an unusual backdrop. A record 43-day government shutdown earlier this year delayed key reports, leaving policymakers to work with data that, in some cases, is already outdated. That has nudged markets to rely more heavily on speeches from regional Fed presidents and governors for guidance.
Recent comments from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Governor Christopher Waller have reinforced expectations for continued easing, while New York Fed President John Williams has said he sees room for another reduction in the near term as labour conditions soften.
For the Fed, the upcoming batch of numbers will help shape the debate over whether to extend the rate cutting cycle into 2026 as inflation cools and consumer demand gradually slows.
For crypto traders, the same data will guide whether Monday’s Bitcoin flush is a brief positioning shakeout or the start of a deeper reset after a powerful year long rally.
