Crypto Crash: Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Solana Fell This Week and What Comes Next

A week that started with post-election optimism ended with more than a billion dollars in liquidations. Bitcoin briefly lost 75,000 dollars, Ethereum fell to its lowest level in ten weeks, and XRP dropped harder than anything else in the top ten. Here is what actually happened, coin by coin, and what the market is pricing in now.

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Why did crypto crash this week?

Four things hit at once.

• A tech and AI rout on Wall Street. The Nasdaq had one of its worst sessions in a long time on Friday, and crypto, which trades like high-beta tech, followed it down. Risk appetite evaporated across the board.
• Regulatory uncertainty after the midterms. The initial rally after Democrats gained control of Congress reversed as traders started pricing in a tougher stance on the sector. Senator Elizabeth Warren's camp has long pushed for a crackdown, and the market remembered.
• ETF money leaving. Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw around 430 million dollars of outflows on Thursday alone, bringing the week's net withdrawals to roughly 870 million dollars through Thursday and tipping the year-to-date balance into negative territory. Solana ETFs also bled, if only modestly.
• The MEXC shock. The US Treasury cut a top-20 exchange off from the dollar system on Thursday evening, which added a fresh counterparty-risk headline to an already nervous tape.

The result: over one billion dollars in leveraged positions liquidated within 24 hours, the vast majority of them longs. Bitcoin alone accounted for roughly 267 million dollars, Ethereum for about 167 million.

What happened to Bitcoin price?

Bitcoin fell around 6 percent on Friday to the 75,500 dollar area and briefly traded below 75,000, its lowest intraday level since mid-September. It is on course for a fifth straight losing week and has given back the entire post-election bounce. Desks mark 75,000 as the near-term floor and 80,000 as the ceiling that capped the recent rally. Wintermute flagged 73,000 and 68,000 as the next technical levels if volatility continues, not as forecasts.

What happened to Ethereum price?

Ethereum dropped roughly 8 percent to the 2,230 dollar area, a ten-week low. ETH has now underperformed Bitcoin for most of the autumn, and the ratio keeps sliding. With leverage flushed, the first question is whether 2,200 holds as support; the second is whether ETF flows turn before the next macro data point.

What happened to XRP price?

XRP was the weakest major, down close to 9 percent to around 1.20 dollars and at one stage more than 10 percent on the day. Coins that rallied hardest on regulatory optimism tend to fall hardest when that optimism fades, and XRP's whole 2026 story has been about regulation. There was no XRP-specific news driving the move; it was simply the highest-beta large cap in the room.

What happened to Solana price?

Solana fell about 6.6 percent, dipped briefly below 90 dollars and then rebounded to around 90.40. Immediate support sits near 88.30; a loss of that level would reopen the early-November lows. Solana ETFs saw small outflows, which matters less than the fact that the Alpenglow upgrade narrative has not been enough to decouple SOL from Bitcoin.

What should crypto investors watch now?

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has slipped to 28, firmly in fear territory, a level that has historically marked uncomfortable but often decent medium-term entry points. The next catalysts are the direction of ETF flows early next week, whether Bitcoin reclaims 80,000 or loses 73,000, and the MEXC fallout. Nothing in this week's drop was crypto-native; it was a liquidity event driven by equities and policy. That cuts both ways: if the Nasdaq stabilises, crypto usually bounces first.

Track market-wide metrics such as sentiment and liquidations on the CryptoTicker charts page, and live prices on the CryptoTicker crypto prices page. None of this is financial advice.