Bitcoin Drops Below $81K, Triggering Nearly $1B Crypto Liquidation Wave: Crypto Stocks Fall With AI Infrastructure Plays

Crypto-linked stocks fell alongside Bitcoin’s decline, with AI-focused miners leading the decline to hit multi-month lows.

• CoinGlass data showed crypto liquidations hitting $974 million, including $896 million in long positions.
• Ethereum led liquidations with $311 million, followed by Bitcoin at $238 million.
• Solana and Dogecoin led the slide among cryptocurrency majors, with Bitcoin outperforming the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $81,000 on Thursday, triggering nearly $1 billion in liquidations across the cryptocurrency market as rising oil prices and geopolitical tensions added to pressure on risk assets.

Bitcoin’s price touched an intraday low of $80,900 before recovering to around $81,100, leaving it down 2.8% over the past 24 hours. BTC was the top-trending ticker on Stocktwits at the time of writing, with retail sentiment in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day.

Bitcoin Selloff Spills Over Into Crypto-Linked Stocks

Large-cap crypto equities also took a hit amid the broader market drawdown. Strategy (MSTR), Coinbase (COIN), and Jack Dorsey-led Block (XYZ) each fell over 2% each in midday trade. USDC stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) dipped as much as 1.5%. 

The heaviest hit among the cohort was Ethereum (ETH) treasury Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR). BMNR stock fell over 5% in midday trade, hitting lows last seen in mid-September.

Bitcoin miners expanding into AI data center infrastructure also came under pressure, with several stocks hitting monthly lows in midday trading Thursday. 

Riot Platforms (RIOT) dropped more than 9%, while Cipher Mining (CIFR) fell 7.9%, CleanSpark (CLSK) slid 7.1%, and Core Scientific (CORZ) lost about 2%. All four touched their lowest levels since April. 

Hut 8 (HUT) fell 8%, and IREN (IREN) dropped 6.3% to one-month lows. IREN and Cipher Mining were among the top-trending tickers on Stocktwits, as of this writing.

The pullback comes as investors reassess capital-intensive AI infrastructure businesses amid rising yields and a broader market selloff. Many miners are relying on external financing to build data center capacity, making their expansion plans sensitive to borrowing costs.

Higher yields can also reduce the present value investors assign to future lease income, putting additional pressure on valuations. 

Nearly $1B In Crypto Positions Liquidated

Data from CoinGlass showed that crypto liquidations totaled $974 million over the past 24 hours. Long positions accounted for $896 million of the total, compared with $78 million in short liquidations, indicating that traders betting on higher prices bore most of the losses.

Ethereum (ETH) led liquidations with $311 million, followed by Bitcoin at $238 million.

The selloff extended across major cryptocurrencies. Solana (SOL) fell 7.2% to $108 over the past 24 hours, while Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 6.6% to around $0.08. XRP (XRP) and Ethereum each declined about 5.5%, with XRP’s price trading near $1.35 and Ethereum’s price around $2,400.

Oil Rally Adds To Pressure On Risk Assets

The crypto selloff coincided with another jump in energy prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for November rose as much as 5.5% to about $93 a barrel, before paring gains to around $91 a barrel at the time of writing. Meanwhile, Brent crude oil futures expiring in December touched $105.65 a barrel, before tracking lower to around $103.70 at the time of writing.

The United States Oil Fund (USO) also pared gains, up around 2.5% at the time of writing. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the ETF trended in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day.

The gains followed an overnight attack on a tanker off the coast of Qatar, adding to concerns over regional security and energy supply.

Prices later pulled back after President Donald Trump said Thursday in a post on Truth Social that there were no plans to attack Iran before the midterm elections. The comments appeared to ease some immediate concerns about further military action, although oil prices remained elevated.

Retail Traders Look Ahead To A Potential Crypto Rebound

One Stocktwits user described Bitcoin’s price swings as part of a longer-term investment approach, saying they remained in it for the long haul.

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Another trader said many investors were waiting for a rebound in October and November, pointing to historical seasonal strength while acknowledging that the market’s next move remains uncertain.

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BTC price is down about 8% year to date and remains more than 35% below its record high of above $126,000 reached last October.

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