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In just the past hour, the crypto market lost nearly $90.3 billion in value, with the total market cap falling 3.37% to around $2.59 trillion. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, dropped to nearly $77,678, while Ethereum, $XRP, Solana, and Dogecoin also saw sharp losses between 3.5% and 6%.
The sudden sell-off has shaken the overall crypto market and pushed investors into panic mode.
Bitcoin Is Trading Like a Leveraged Stock Market Bet
The recent crypto sell-off was driven more by macroeconomic pressure than by problems inside the crypto market itself. Bitcoin has recently been moving closely alongside the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), which tracks small-cap U.S. stocks that are highly sensitive to interest rate expectations.
After new PPI inflation data came in around 6% above forecasts, reducing hopes for Federal Reserve rate cuts, investors started selling risky assets fast.
As small-cap stocks dropped sharply, Bitcoin and the wider crypto market also fell.
ETF Outflows and Miner Selling Added Pressure
Another reason behind today’s crash is the intensified institutional selling pressure. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded another $290 million in outflows today, led by BlackRock’s IBIT fund with roughly $136 million in withdrawals.
Overall, Bitcoin ETFs have now seen roughly $1.15 billion in outflows over the past week, ending a six-week inflow streak.
Meanwhile, Ali Martinez reported that Bitcoin miners sold nearly 800 $BTC worth roughly $64 million over the past four days, adding more supply pressure to the market.
Bitcoin $BTC miners continue booking profits, selling around 800 $BTC worth roughly $64 million over the past 96 hours.
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) May 15, 2026
This increase in selling pressure could soon impact price action. https://t.co/3efOuWMMKC pic.twitter.com/DMZj2YBzWe
$700M Liquidations Triggered Panic Selling
The selloff accelerated after leveraged long positions started collapsing rapidly. According to CoinGlass data, nearly 154,000 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours, wiping out roughly $696 million from the derivatives market.
Bitcoin liquidations alone surged 125% to over $235 million.
At the same time, total crypto derivatives open interest dropped more than 25%, showing traders rapidly exited leveraged positions.
Bitcoin Breaks Key Multi-Month Support
Following the drop Crypto trader TED Pillow warned that Bitcoin has now broken below a major multi-month ascending channel on the daily timeframe, with two strong red candles confirming the breakdown.
$BTC tapped the $78,000 level today.
— Ted (@TedPillows) May 16, 2026
Global markets are looking weak here, which isn't a good sign.
If $BTC loses the $78,000 level here, it could drop quickly to $74,000-$75,000. pic.twitter.com/FL1jImDqkn
Analysts say this opens the door for a deeper correction, with the the price could quickly slide toward the $74,000–$75,000.
On the more bearish side it could even touch the $70,000–$68,000 region emerging as the next major downside target.
Altcoins See Sharper Losses
The weakness wasn’t limited to Bitcoin. Most large-cap altcoins traded deep in the red, with $XRP, Solana, BNB, HYPE, ZEC, Dogecoin, SUI, LINK, and ADA recording some of the steepest declines as market sentiment turned risk-off.