Bitcoin on Friday the 13th: weekend panic builds as traders eye $60,000

Friday, November 13, 2026, 12:08 p.m. ET: Bitcoin trades at $68,760, down 4.1 percent from the same time yesterday. Early Friday it fell as low as $67,555 on Coinbase, its lowest level since August. For crypto, that makes this a rare black Friday the 13th: since 2014, Bitcoin closed lower on only 3 of 22 such days, and never by more than 3.1 percent. Today it is down 3.6 percent. Within 24 hours, $1.31 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out, 83 percent of them bets on rising prices. The Fear and Greed Index sits at 20, extreme fear, its lowest reading since July 8.

The forces behind the sell-off, from US inflation to ETF outflows, are on our standing page Why is crypto down today? This piece answers three questions before the weekend: is Friday the 13th really unlucky for crypto, what happens when traditional markets close, and is $60,000 next?

Bitcoin crash on Friday the 13th: the key numbers at 12:08 p.m. ET

• Bitcoin: $68,760, down 4.1 percent in 24 hours, 9.4 percent in 7 days and 16.1 percent in 30 days, according to CoinMarketCap
• Day low: $67,555 on Coinbase, between midnight and 1 a.m. ET
• Distance from the all-time high of $126,198 on October 6, 2025: down 45.5 percent
• Ethereum: $1,931, down 3.7 percent in 24 hours and 21.1 percent in 30 days
• Solana $79.67, XRP $1.02, BNB $631.73
• Total crypto market: $2.32 trillion, down 3.1 percent in 24 hours
• Liquidations in 24 hours: $1.31 billion across 159,481 traders, $1.09 billion of it long positions, according to CoinGlass
• Fear and Greed Index: 20, extreme fear, according to alternative.me

Friday the 13th in crypto: Bitcoin fell on only three such days before today

Superstition has not paid off for Bitcoin bears. CryptoTicker analyzed all 22 Fridays the 13th since June 2014 using daily closing prices from CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin closed higher than on Thursday on 19 of them, with an average daily gain of 2.2 percent. It fell only three times: by 3.1 percent in March 2015, 0.4 percent in November 2015 and 0.5 percent in September 2019.

Today adds a fourth down day, and so far the biggest. At 12:08 p.m. ET, Bitcoin is 3.6 percent below Thursday's close of $71,343. If that holds until the daily close at 7 p.m. ET, it will be the weakest Friday the 13th since the data series began in 2014.

The most famous Friday the 13th in crypto was not a down day at all. On March 13, 2020, one day after the Covid crash, Bitcoin plunged 17.4 percent intraday to $4,107, then closed 11.9 percent higher at $5,564.

Bitcoin on the weekend: why panic can grow after Wall Street closes

From Friday afternoon, the crypto market loses part of its buyers. The US spot Bitcoin ETFs trade only during New York Stock Exchange hours, so they stop at 4 p.m. ET and return Monday at 9:30 a.m. ET. CME Bitcoin futures pause from Friday 5 p.m. to Sunday 6 p.m. ET. Bitcoin itself keeps trading around the clock, just with thinner order books. Large sell orders then move the price more, and stop losses and liquidations trigger chain reactions faster.

The weekends after a Friday the 13th show no pattern worth betting on. In 12 of 22 cases, Bitcoin's Sunday close was below Friday's close. The biggest drops came in November 2015 at 4.9 percent and in March 2020 at 3.1 percent, the biggest gain in May 2022 at 6.9 percent. On average, the weekend added 0.4 percent.

The weekly close matters more. Bitcoin is only 1.5 percent above its 200-week moving average, which stands at $67,752 based on CoinMarketCap's weekly closes. A weekly close below it would be a signal many chart watchers track closely.

Bitcoin liquidations: $1.31 billion in leveraged bets wiped out in 24 hours

The overnight drop was a textbook liquidation cascade. Between 9 p.m. Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday ET, Bitcoin fell on Coinbase from $70,884 to $67,555. Traders who had bet on rising prices with leverage were forced out of their positions by exchanges, and every forced sale pushed the price lower. According to CoinGlass, $1.09 billion of the $1.31 billion in liquidations hit long positions and only $217 million hit shorts. Bitcoin alone accounted for $741 million, 91.8 percent of it longs, Ethereum for $254 million.

Now many traders are betting on further losses. Funding rates on perpetual futures have turned negative, meaning short sellers pay longs, the deepest negative funding in three months. That is also a risk for the bears: if Bitcoin jumps, they have to buy back, and a short squeeze can push the price up fast.

Is $60,000 next? The Bitcoin price levels that matter

Bitcoin is 12.7 percent away from $60,000. That is not an unusual distance for Bitcoin: between June 1 and July 1, 2026, it fell from $73,970 to $57,748, a 22 percent drop in one month. Nobody can predict whether that repeats. CoinMarketCap's daily data shows where buyers stepped in recently:

• $67,752: the 200-week moving average, already briefly broken by this morning's low of $67,555 on Coinbase
• $64,111: the low of August 19, 2026, from where Bitcoin climbed to $87,364 by September 21
• $60,074: the low of February 6, 2026
• $57,748: the 2026 low of July 1; Bitcoin last traded below $60,000 on July 2

To the upside, Bitcoin would first need to reclaim its 200-day average at $73,081 to change the picture, 6.3 percent above the current price.

Making money in a Bitcoin crash: what long, short and leverage returned today

A falling market is not a loss for everyone. Traders who go short, betting on falling prices, profit from the drop. The table shows what a position opened at the start of the UTC day on Coinbase at $71,370 (7 p.m. ET Thursday) returned by 12 p.m. ET Friday, with Bitcoin at $68,728.

Calculated before fees and funding, liquidation price with 0.5 percent maintenance margin. The middle column shows the other side: a 20x long was gone overnight, a 50x long already between 9 and 10 p.m. ET on Thursday. A buyer at the low, between midnight and 1 a.m. ET, is now up 1.7 percent, or 17.4 percent with 10x leverage. Hardly anyone hits the perfect moment, though, and short positions currently pay funding.

How margin, leverage and the liquidation price work together is explained in our guides leverage trading in crypto and perpetual futures explained. Which platforms offer long and short positions with leverage, and what they charge, is shown in our crypto exchange comparison. Licensed providers are listed in our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges. Leveraged products are risky for retail investors, and you can lose your entire stake.

Advertisement: Crypto futures trading: Bitget offers leverage of up to 100x. Leverage can lead to high losses. Our exchange comparison shows more platforms.

Bitcoin this weekend: what traders are watching

• Weekly close, Sunday 7 p.m. ET: does Bitcoin close above or below the 200-week average at $67,752?
• Liquidations: if they flip from longs to shorts, the bears face a short squeeze.
• Sunday 6 p.m. ET: CME futures reopen. A price gap to Friday's close, the so-called CME gap, is a level many traders watch as a target.
• Monday 9:30 a.m. ET: US markets open, and ETF flows show whether large investors keep selling.

Not investment advice: cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, so only invest money you can afford to lose.