Crypto’s rough Monday: Wall Street builds on-chain while Bitcoin searches for a floor
November 9, 2026. Crypto began the week with a sharp reminder of its old habits.
Bitcoin fell below $74,000 before recovering some ground. Ethereum dropped harder, as liquidations swept through leveraged positions.
More than $1 billion of crypto bets disappeared within 24 hours. Long positions represented roughly 90% of forced closures.
Meanwhile, Wall Street carried on with a very different agenda. Charles Schwab widened its crypto offering, while the New York Stock Exchange picked Avalanche technology for planned tokenised securities settlement.
Bitcoin’s mid-$70,000 test
Bitcoin changed hands near $74,000 after reaching its weakest level since August. Buyers later pushed it above $75,000, although the recovery looked tentative.
Ethereum accounted for almost $500 million of reported liquidations. Bitcoin positions made up about $305 million of the total.
That imbalance matters because leveraged selling can feed upon itself. A falling price forces closures, which then adds more selling pressure.
Broader markets offered little shelter. Technology shares had already weakened, while investors weighed fresh political and regulatory uncertainty in Washington.
U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded roughly $1.28 billion in net outflows during the week ending November 6. It was their second straight week of withdrawals.
ETF redemptions do not dictate every intraday move. Still, they remove a meaningful source of institutional demand during an already nervous market.
The next U.S. inflation report arrives on Tuesday. Traders will watch whether it revives rate-cut hopes or sends risk assets lower again.
Schwab adds three familiar crypto names
Charles Schwab added Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink to its Schwab Crypto service for eligible U.S. clients.
The brokerage already offered direct trading in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Its digital-asset menu now contains five tokens.
Schwab started rolling out the service in May. It expanded availability to eligible retail clients in October.
The move gives SOL, AVAX and LINK access through a large mainstream brokerage. Previously, many investors needed specialist crypto exchanges to buy them directly.
That wider distribution will not insulate any token from a market sell-off. However, it may reshape which assets retail investors encounter first.
For Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink, easier access could become as important as technical upgrades. Liquidity follows attention, and attention often follows the brokerage screen.
NYSE puts Avalanche in the settlement frame
The New York Stock Exchange plans to use Avalanche as a core ledger for a tokenised securities platform.
The planned venue would support round-the-clock trading and settlement. A fourth-quarter launch remains subject to regulatory approval.
NYSE intends to combine its existing trade-matching systems with blockchain-based clearing, custody and settlement.
Tokenised shares could exist on more than one blockchain. Avalanche would record ownership transfers and settle transactions under the proposed structure.
This is more ambitious than simply listing conventional shares on a crypto exchange. The project aims to change the machinery behind trading itself.
Today’s equity market follows a familiar weekday rhythm. The proposed system would seek continuous operation, faster transfers and more programmable settlement rules.
AVAX rose between 8% and 9% after the announcement. The gain reflected hopes that blockchain infrastructure can become a large institutional business.
Still, the announcement is not a finished market. Regulators must approve the venue, while its custody and compliance arrangements need to withstand scrutiny.
Tokenisation becomes a contest for market plumbing
Avalanche now competes more directly with Ethereum and Solana for institutional settlement work.
Fast transactions alone will not decide the winner. Banks and exchanges also need reliable custody, predictable fees, compliance controls and clear governance.
Public blockchains may carry the record of ownership. Yet licensed intermediaries will remain central to tokenised markets.
Transfer agents, custodians and regulated venues still determine who can issue, trade and redeem securities. On-chain finance does not mean finance outside the rules.
Instead, it offers a way to make existing market processes more automated. Whether that benefit outweighs new operational risks remains the central commercial question.
Ethereum absorbs heavier damage
Ethereum fell below $2,200 as liquidations accelerated. Large holders reportedly bought millions of dollars’ worth of ETH during the decline.
Such buying can signal confidence in a rebound. It can also represent averaging down during a continuing fall.
Ethereum faces questions beyond price. Auditors have raised compatibility concerns around planned Glamsterdam changes, delaying a related Hoodi testnet fork.
Protocol upgrades can improve speed, capacity and security. They can also create unexpected behaviour in older smart contracts.
That trade-off matters most during volatile markets. Investors tend to demand simpler stories when prices are falling.
Security remains an expensive nuisance
An exploit involving the Ankr bridge reportedly drained about $303,000. Attackers allegedly reused an Optimism deposit during the incident.
The loss is small beside daily crypto trading volumes. Yet each exploit makes investors question the systems holding their assets.
A token can perform well while its bridge, wallet or smart contract fails. Price risk and operational risk remain inseparable in decentralised finance.
What traders are watching
- Inflation: Tuesday’s U.S. data could reset interest-rate expectations and move crypto alongside wider risk markets.
- ETF flows: Further Bitcoin fund outflows would extend pressure on a major institutional demand channel.
- Bitcoin support: A sustained break below the mid-$70,000 range could prompt another round of deleveraging.
- NYSE approval: Regulatory decisions matter more than Avalanche’s initial price reaction.
- Altcoin correlation: Schwab access broadens distribution, but SOL, AVAX and LINK remain exposed to Bitcoin’s direction.
Monday left crypto with two competing pictures. Traders saw forced selling, fragile confidence and a bruised chart.
Exchanges and brokerages, by contrast, kept building the rails for tokenised markets. The price action looked nervous; the infrastructure race looked increasingly serious.
Related coverage on Volity
- How to Avoid Crypto Scams: A Beginner Safety Checklist
- How to Choose a Trading Platform: A 10-Point Checklist
- Demo vs Live Trading Account: A 7-Step Checklist Before You Go Live
- How to Size a Trade: Position Sizing and Risk Per Trade for Beginners
- Risk-Reward Ratio Explained: How to Set It and Why It Matters
- ETF vs Index Fund: The Difference and Which to Pick
