U.S. Hours Account for Nearly All of Bitcoin’s November Losses

Bitcoin’s November selloff is increasingly concentrated during U.S. trading hours, pointing to a market that’s trading more like a high-beta tech proxy than a crypto-specific asset.

Session-segmented data from Amberdata shows a sharp regional split over the past month: U.S. hours have produced nearly the entire drawdown, with cumulative returns sliding close to 30%. Asia’s sessions are largely flat over the same window, while Europe sits modestly in the red.

The pattern has been consistent across November. BTC drifts or stabilizes during Asia's sessions, softens slightly during the European handover and then absorbs most of its losses once U.S. equity markets open.

That timing mirrors stress in megacap tech stocks, where valuations have come under pressure amid rising doubts about Fed cuts, heavy AI-capex spending and a rotation into defensive sectors.

“Bitcoin has always traded in a high correlation with US tech,” shared Kyle Rodda, Senior Market Analyst at Capital.com “Both are risk assets and are heavily influenced by U.S. monetary policy expectations. Both have heavy retail trader involvement, highly impacted by momentum and flows, and can be traded on a lot of leverage.”

“From a big picture standpoint, the recent bout of market volatility has been driven by fears the Fed won't cut in December, and as deeply in 2026 as previously thought. Both tech stocks and Bitcoin will likely feel the pinch from that,” Rodda added.

Funds that model bitcoin as a liquidity-sensitive risk asset appear to be driving the move. ETF inflows have stalled, and several U.S. sessions this month saw net outflows across the larger spot products.

CME futures open interest has also declined, indicative of deleveraging during the U.S. day. Those trading windows carry the deepest liquidity for both spot and derivatives for institutional investors and price discovery has shifted almost entirely to that session, magnifying intraday swings.

The regional divergence stands out compared to earlier corrections. Even during the FTX collapse or the 2022 credit unwind, selling pressure was more evenly distributed across time zones.

Unless tech stabilizes or ETF flows return, BTC remains tied to the rhythm of U.S. hours. And that continues to dictate the tone for the rest of the market.