Have you ever watched five figures vanish from your portfolio before you even finished your morning coffee? That was the reality for thousands of crypto traders on December 1st.
I opened my phone at 4 a.m. UTC, saw Bitcoin sitting comfortably above $91,000, and thought, “Maybe today we finally crack six figures.” An hour later the chart looked like someone had yanked the plug out of the entire market. Welcome to crypto in December—where weekend liquidity is a myth and leverage is a loaded gun.
The Brutal Overnight Crypto Wipeout Nobody Saw Coming
By the time most of Europe woke up, Bitcoin had shed more than 5.4% and was trading under $86,000. Ethereum took an even harder punch, down over 6%. The damage spread everywhere—BNB, XRP, Solana, even the meme coin darlings got absolutely crushed. The total market cap? Down roughly $160 billion in a single session.
This wasn’t some slow, orderly correction. It was a full-blown liquidation cascade—the kind that reminds you crypto still runs on rocket fuel and prayers.
The Liquidation Numbers Tell the Real Story
Over $609 million in positions disappeared in 24 hours, according to data tracked across major exchanges. And here’s the painful part: $542 million of those were long positions. Bulls got absolutely slaughtered.
Think about that for a second. That’s half a billion dollars of “to the moon” dreams turned into forced selling in the blink of an eye.
- Bitcoin liquidations alone topped $180 million
- Ethereum saw $140 million wiped out
- The rest scattered across altcoins and meme tokens
- Long-to-short liquidation ratio hit almost 10:1 in the worst hours
Why Weekend Crypto Trading Still Feels Like Russian Roulette
Every veteran knows the weekend curse. Trading volume collapses, bid-ask spreads widen, and a single $50 million sell order can send the price spiraling. Mix in 50x or 100x leverage—yes, people still use that—and you have the perfect recipe for chaos.
Sunday night into Monday morning UTC is the thinnest liquidity window of the entire week. A few whales decide to take profit or defend a short, the stops start triggering, and suddenly the whole market is sliding down the stairs in a hurry.
“Low weekend depth + insane leverage = guaranteed bloodbath. We literally watch this movie every few months and still act surprised.”
– Veteran derivatives trader on X
Profit-Taking After the Monster Run
Let’s be honest—nobody feels sorry for anyone who bought Bitcoin under $20,000 and is now crying about a 5% dip from $94,000. But those paper gains were massive, and a lot of old hands have been ringing the register.
Roughly $800 billion in market value has already been shaved off since the local top in late October. That’s healthy profit-taking turning into a snowball when leverage gets involved.
Macro Headwinds Are Quietly Stacking Up
It’s not just crypto being crypto. Bigger forces are shifting under the surface.
The Japanese yen carry trade—one of the biggest sources of cheap leverage for risk assets—continues to unwind as Japan normalizes interest rates. Less easy money flowing into Bitcoin and tech stocks. Simple as that.
Add fresh regulatory noise from Europe and the usual anti-crypto rhetoric out of certain Asian financial hubs, and risk appetite takes another hit.
Fear & Greed Index Back in “Extreme Fear” Territory
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropped a brutal four points to 24—firmly back in extreme fear territory. That’s the lowest reading since the summer doldrums.
I’ve watched this metric for years, and when it swings this hard this fast, it usually means capitulation is close. Whether that capitulation marks the bottom or just another leg down is the million-dollar question.
Which Coins Got Hit the Hardest?
| Coin | 24h Change | Price (Dec 1) |
| Bitcoin (BTC) | -5.47% | $85,880 |
| Ethereum (ETH) | -6.03% | $2,817 |
| BNB | -5.82% | $823 |
| XRP | -7.38% | $2.04 |
| Solana (SOL) | -7.24% | $126.49 |
| dogwifhat (WIF) | -9.51% | $0.338 |
| Popcat (POPCAT) | -12.10% | $0.093 |
The meme coin sector got absolutely demolished. When leverage meets animal-themed tokens, the results are never pretty.
Is This the End of the Bull Market?
No. At least not yet.
These kinds of shakeouts happen in every major cycle. In 2021 we had multiple 30-50% drawdowns inside the broader uptrend. The 2017 bull run had several 40% crashes that felt like the end of the world at the time.
In my experience, the most painful sell-offs happen right when the crowd is most confident. Everyone was calling for $100,000 by Christmas two weeks ago. Now half the timeline is declaring crypto dead again. That extreme swing in sentiment is exactly what the market loves to exploit.
What Happens Next? All Eyes on the Fed
The December 10 Federal Reserve meeting is now the line in the sand. A dovish signal—any hint of pausing rate hikes or even preparing cuts in 2026—could light the fuse for another leg up. A hawkish surprise would validate the bears and probably send us testing $80,000 or lower.
Until then, expect choppy price action and brutal volatility. This is the part of the cycle where weak hands get shaken out and stronger hands accumulate on the dips.
“The market has become too pessimistic too fast. Ethereum is ten years old. Amazon was written off multiple times in its first decade. Building a new financial system takes longer than people want, but the compounding is real.”
– Haseeb Qureshi, Dragonfly Capital (paraphrased)
I tend to agree. The fundamentals haven’t vanished overnight. Institutional adoption keeps growing quietly in the background. Spot ETFs keep sucking up coins. The halving supply shock is still working its way through the system.
Final Thoughts – Stay Calm and Keep Perspective
December has only just begun. We’ve seen far worse sell-offs turn into the best buying opportunities of the entire cycle. If you zoomed out right now, Bitcoin is still up more than 100% in 2025 alone. A 5-10% dip barely registers on the four-year chart.
The traders who panic-sell the lows are the same ones who FOMO the highs. The ones who survive—and thrive—are the ones who zoom out, manage risk, and remember that crypto rewards patience more than it rewards perfect timing.
See you on the other side of this dip.
Disclosure: The author holds BTC, ETH, and several altcoins mentioned. This is not financial advice. Crypto is extremely volatile. Only risk what you can afford to lose.
