Over $837 million in leveraged cryptocurrency positions liquidated across 24 hours after intelligence warnings on Iranian plots prompted wider diplomatic and military drawdowns.
Bitcoin dropped below $80,000 on Saturday, October 24, 2026, hitting its lowest price since mid-September as expanded U.S. personnel evacuations across the Middle East sparked a weekend retreat from risk assets. The largest cryptocurrency fell roughly 2.5% over 24 hours to trade near $79,464, briefly touching an intraday low around $79,165. That decline triggered over $200 million in leveraged derivatives liquidations within a single hour and pushed total cryptocurrency market value down 4.06% to $2.72 trillion.
The weekend sell-off followed a Saturday morning report from The Wall Street Journal detailing rapid departures of American staff from diplomatic missions and military installations across the Middle East. Those drawdowns go beyond an order earlier in the week requiring non-essential U.S. embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia. Several other regional embassies also shifted to restricted operations status, allowing missions to pare down staffing without formal departure mandates, while defense officials reduced troop footprints at regional posts.
An unclassified Friday memo from Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, first reported by Axios and obtained by CBS News, drove the heightened security posture. In the document, which copied CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Clayton warned that Iran has "substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel" abroad. He wrote that "the lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries." Intelligence officials are downgrading sensitive threat reporting so the State Department can share warnings more broadly.
Rising military rhetoric from Washington added to investor caution heading into the weekend. Although the United States and Iran have avoided direct strikes against each other in recent weeks, President Donald Trump suggested at a Florida campaign rally on Friday that American forces could resume the military campaign launched in February if Tehran does not reach an agreement after the November 3 midterm elections. "We may do another little Epic Fury, or they'll agree," Trump said at the event. Bloomberg also reported Saturday that the administration is preparing options to increase military pressure on Tehran after upcoming elections in the United States and Israel.
Regional security risks have already disrupted energy corridors. Yemeni Houthi militants backed by Iran have stepped up drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabian airports and oil facilities, including an attack earlier in October on Riyadh's King Khalid Airport that killed at least 12 people, among them a U.S. citizen. Tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have simultaneously weighed on shipping, helping push Brent crude oil to a Friday settlement of $116.72 per barrel.
Thin weekend order books amplified the downward move once Bitcoin breached the $80,000 threshold. CoinGlass data cited by BeInCrypto showed $837.12 million in total cryptocurrency liquidations over 24 hours across 227,681 trader accounts. Bullish traders absorbed 82.8% of that wipeout, losing $693.05 million in long positions compared with $144.07 million in short liquidations. During the sharpest one-hour selling wave, bullish bets accounted for $191.33 million of the $200 million liquidated.
Bitcoin derivatives accounted for $232.55 million of the 24-hour liquidation tally, while Ether positions made up $181.51 million, with long contracts representing over 93% of forced closures in both assets. Binance recorded the single largest forced unwind on an ETHUSDT position valued at $11.85 million. Spot prices across major alternative tokens fell steeper than Bitcoin, with Ether dropping 4.71% to $2,288.73, Solana sliding 5.20% to $98.92, and Zcash losing 8.39% to $1,124.36.
Saturday's drop pushed Bitcoin below the $80,000 average acquisition price estimated by Glassnode for corporate balance-sheet holders, placing the average corporate treasury position underwater. U.S. spot demand had already softened earlier in the week. On October 22, U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds posted $635.5 million in net outflows, their largest single-day withdrawal since June 2025, led by $254.1 million leaving BlackRock's IBIT and $217.5 million exiting Fidelity's FBTC. The Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index also stayed negative for a 31st straight day at minus 0.13%.
Traders now face a crowded macroeconomic calendar. The Federal Reserve meets October 27 and 28, followed October 29 by September Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation data, as high oil prices test policy.
Sources
CoinDesk (via Cryptonews.net syndication), October 24, 2026
CBS News, October 23, 2026
BeInCrypto, October 24, 2026