Bitcoin (BTC) fell to about $73,500 late Sunday, its lowest level since August, as more than $1 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated ahead of this week’s US inflation reports.

Bitcoin reached its lowest level since Aug. 21 shortly before Sunday’s weekly close before briefly recovering above $75,000. Nasdaq 100 futures fluctuated between gains and losses after Nvidia’s board announced an investigation into whether CEO Jensen Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) are due Tuesday and Friday, respectively.

Economist Robin Brooks said falling oil prices could support Bitcoin, stocks and precious metals.

Crypto liquidations exceed $1.1 billion

Bitcoin slipped below $74,000 shortly before Sunday’s weekly close, extending the previous week’s losses, according to TradingView data.

About $1.12 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated during the 24 hours through 9 am UTC Monday, according to CoinGlass. Liquidations occur when exchanges forcibly close leveraged positions after traders cannot meet margin requirements.

Bitcoin fell below its 50-week simple moving average (SMA) of $75,492 and approached its 21-week SMA of $73,078. Simple moving averages track the average closing price over a set number of weeks and smooth out short-term fluctuations. The cryptocurrency also traded below the short-term holder cost basis, which CryptoQuant placed at $75,691 on Monday. The metric estimates the average cost basis of coins that last moved fewer than 155 days ago.

A CryptoQuant community analyst estimated the cost basis for coins that last moved between one and three months ago at about $79,300. The analyst said that level could act as resistance if recent buyers sell when they reach the break-even point.

“In 2026, price stayed below this line for months at a time (Feb–Apr, Jun–Aug) before reclaiming it,” the analyst wrote Monday in a CryptoQuant analysis.

Trader Rekt Capital said Sunday that selling volume would need to increase before sellers showed signs of exhaustion.

“Seller Exhaustion tends to happen exactly at or very close to a Bitcoin price bottom,” Rekt Capital wrote on X.

Nasdaq futures fluctuate after Nvidia announces investigation

Nvidia’s board said Sunday that it had launched an independent investigation into reports that CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. The board said it had no reason to believe that US national security or company secrets had been compromised. China’s foreign ministry denied the spying allegations on Monday.

Nasdaq 100 futures fell early Monday, recovered and then turned lower again ahead of the US market open. S&P 500 and Dow futures remained higher as Nasdaq 100 futures declined.

The investigation followed the previous week’s technology sell-off, when investors assessed the outlook for AI spending and potential changes to US regulation after the midterm elections.

Economist Mohamed El-Erian called the timing of the investigation “unfortunate,” citing Nvidia’s importance to the technology sector and broader market.

“The company is systemically important for tech, markets and the economy; Investors tend to struggle to price in key-person and governance issues; and there are fluid national security and geopolitical dynamics,” he wrote in a blog post.

In Asia, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi closed down 0.8% at 5,018.85 on Monday. The exchange briefly halted trading Friday after the index fell more than 8% shortly after the open.

South Korean Vice Minister of Science and ICT Ryu Jemyung told a parliamentary budget committee Monday that he expected contracted Nvidia chip deliveries to remain on schedule.

“We expect production and the delivery schedule for contracted volumes to proceed without disruption,” he said, according to CNA.

US inflation reports due as oil trades near $90

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release October’s CPI on Tuesday and PPI on Friday. Both reports are scheduled for 8:30 am ET. The CPI measures changes in prices paid by consumers, while the PPI tracks prices received by domestic producers for their output.

Consumer prices rose 3.7% year over year in September. Gasoline prices increased 9.1% from August and accounted for more than half of the monthly increase in the overall index.

US President Donald Trump told CNN on Sunday that renewed US strikes on Iran were “highly unlikely” and said the decision depended on whether Tehran signed an agreement.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded near $90 a barrel Monday morning.

Brooks said Sunday that the war was keeping oil prices elevated and that a decline in crude prices could lift Bitcoin, stocks and precious metals.

“I’m not saying that risk premium should disappear completely, but can we go to $75 a barrel? Absolutely,” he said.

Brooks forecast that Bitcoin would continue to show a negative correlation with oil as the effects of the US midterm elections subsided.

“I think there’s a lot of downside for oil and I think that means upside for gold at the margin, for silver, the S&P 500 and for Bitcoin,” he said.

“I do think that the outlook as oil prices come down, both in terms of the risk premium more broadly in the market and in terms of interest rates, it should be a relatively favorable picture.”

Markets are pricing in a 78.8% probability that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by 25 basis points in December, according to data from the CME Group FedWatch Tool.

Several Fed officials are scheduled to speak in the coming days, offering views on inflation trends and the economy. Fed Governor Christopher Waller and Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman are both scheduled to discuss the economic outlook Tuesday.

Waller will appear at the Bank of England and its Watchers Conference 2026 in London, while Bowman will speak at the C. Peter McColough Series on International Economics in Washington.