What happened?
The global cryptocurrency market lost over $100 billion in just 24 hours during the week of August 11 to 17, 2025, following an intense correction that impacted both Bitcoin and major altcoins. ($123k → <$118k in BTC)
This drop was driven by a higher-than-expected U.S. inflation figure, raising expectations that interest rate cuts would take longer than anticipated.
Noteworthy data
Liquidations: Over $1 billion in leveraged positions were adjusted in derivatives; most were long positions, exacerbating the drop.
Volume and dominance of BTC: Alts like DOGE, XLM, HBAR, and PEPE suffered heavy losses. The dominance of Bitcoin increased by +1% in one day, as BTC remained more stable than the rest.
On-chain data: An interesting fact: approximately 17% of the BTC supply has remained inactive for more than 10 years, indicating that long-term 'hodlers' did not panic.
What caused it?
1. Hot U.S. inflation: Raised fears that the Fed would maintain restrictive monetary policies for a longer time.
2. Healthy technical correction: After months of strong gains, many investors took profits.
3. Leveraged liquidations: Additional pressure generated by traders operating on margin.
4. Change in institutional strategy: Although there were sales, purchases were also reported by funds like BlackRock ETFs, which acquired over $1 billion in BTC and ETH taking advantage of the drop of >5%.
What does this mean for investors?
It's not necessarily a catastrophe, but rather a healthy technical correction after price records.
Institutional entry signals (like ETF purchases) suggest confidence in the medium term.
The behavior of long-term holders indicates structural strength against volatility.
It remains a week of high macroeconomic sensitivity, especially in light of inflation data.