--- title: "Talos Finds Thinned Order Books and High Leverage Leave Bitcoin Exposed" description: "Order-book depth dropped as much as 33% following the midterms while spot ETF outflows and stablecoin contractions drained market liquidity." url: https://basisdesk.news/news/talos-liquidity-flows-bitcoin-order-book-depth-selloff published: 2026-11-13T06:21:37.669Z modified: 2026-11-13T06:21:37.669Z section: Institutions & ETFs author: Basis Desk Newsroom (AI-generated, source-verified) sentiment: bearish tickers: [BTC, ETH, SOL] tags: [bitcoin, liquidity, etf-flows, derivatives, stablecoins, talos] license: Quote with attribution to Basis Desk (basisdesk.news). Not financial advice. --- # Talos Finds Thinned Order Books and High Leverage Leave Bitcoin Exposed Order-book depth dropped as much as 33% following the midterms while spot ETF outflows and stablecoin contractions drained market liquidity. ## At a glance - **What happened:** Talos reported that Bitcoin 1% order-book depth fell by up to 33% to $72 million following post-election market volatility as spot ETF and stablecoin outflows expanded. - **Why it matters:** Depleted order-book buffers combined with near-record perpetual contract leverage increase market fragility and the potential severity of liquidation spirals. - **Who is affected:** Institutional digital asset traders, derivatives market participants, and spot market makers across Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken. - **What's next:** Markets are monitoring the anticipated Anthropic IPO, where pre-IPO perpetual futures hold more than $400 million in open interest. - **Primary source:** [Treading on Thin Ice: The Post Election Selloff Through Liquidity & Flows | State of the Market](https://www.talos.com/insights/state-of-the-market-2026-11-12) — talos.com ## Key points - Bitcoin 1% order-book depth plunged 33% to $72M on Nov. 9 and remains 10% to 15% below normal levels across major spot exchanges. - Spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $684M in weekly outflows, while stablecoin supplies fell by $2.15B, led by contractions in USDC and USDS. - BTC perpetual open interest remained near highs at 463K BTC, sitting at the 93rd percentile of open-interest-to-market-cap over the past year. ## Editorial remark - **Context:** A brief post-election rally reversed quickly into an equities and crypto selloff, with macro headwinds from a hot October CPI and hawkish Fed rate expectations compounding the downturn. - **Impact:** Traders and market makers face heightened execution slippage and liquidation cascade risks, as thinned depth makes price moves roughly 1.6 times more volatile during low-liquidity periods. - **Watch:** Market reactions to the upcoming Anthropic IPO, where pre-IPO perpetuals have accumulated over $400 million in open interest, testing tech and crypto risk sentiment. Cryptocurrency market depth deteriorated sharply following post-election volatility, leaving digital assets increasingly sensitive to forced selling, according to research published by institutional trading platform Talos [1]. Across major spot venues including Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, 1% order-book depth for $BTC dropped to a low of $72 million on Nov. 9, approximately 33% below baseline levels, before settling 10% to 15% under historical norms [1]. The liquidity drain accompanied a broader market drawdown that pushed total cryptocurrency market capitalization down 9% over the week to $2.54 trillion [1]. Bitcoin fell 8.3% over the week toward an 11-week low near $73,500 after a hotter-than-expected October consumer price index report and hawkish Federal Reserve expectations weighed on risk sentiment [1]. The weakness spread wider across the asset class, with $ETH dropping 15.5% and $SOL falling 13.2% [1]. Only 34% of the top 50 digital assets remained above their 200-day moving average, down from 83% one month prior [1]. At the time of writing, market momentum has softened further, echoing conditions seen when [Bitcoin dips to $81,400 as tech shares slide](https://basisdesk.news/news/bitcoin-dips-81400-tech-stocks-options-bearish), with Bitcoin changing hands at $68,439. ## Outflows and Persistent Derivatives Leverage Capital retreated across multiple institutional and native channels over the period [1]. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $684 million in net outflows over the week, bringing 30-day net redemptions to $1.66 billion [1]. Concurrently, total stablecoin supply fell by $2.15 billion over the week, driven by $1.1 billion declines in both USDC and USDS, with contractions concentrated on the Ethereum blockchain [1]. Despite this withdrawal of capital, speculative positioning remained elevated [1]. Open interest in BTC perpetual contracts hovered near highs at 463,000 BTC, representing 2.3% of market capitalization and placing it in the 93rd percentile over the past year [1]. Seven-day annualized funding rates averaged 7.8% against a one-year median of 4.3% [1]. Talos noted that when 1% book depth falls beneath $84 million, average BTC price movements increase to 0.30%, compared to 0.18% when depth exceeds $105 million [1]. With thin liquidity amplifying liquidation runs, similar dynamics were visible when [Bitcoin slid toward $76,000](https://basisdesk.news/news/bitcoin-slides-tech-rout-crypto-liquidations) under heavy derivatives pressure. ## Sources 1. [Treading on Thin Ice: The Post Election Selloff Through Liquidity & Flows | State of the Market](https://www.talos.com/insights/state-of-the-market-2026-11-12) — talos.com, 2026-11-13 --- Basis Desk Newsroom · AI-generated, source-verified · https://basisdesk.news/about/how-we-use-ai