Retail Didn’t Capitulate. They Re-Leveraged the Crash.
Exclusive behavioral data from Leverage.Trading shows that retail traders didn’t exit November’s $2 billion leveraged sell-off. As Bitcoin collapsed from nearly $126,000 into the low $80,000s, traders checked liquidation levels, added margin, and rebuilt futures positions rather than closing trades.
Liquidation-price checks rose sharply during the decline, but margin-call checks climbed even faster, signaling attempts to avoid forced exits. Position-sizing also remained elevated, with traders running new crypto futures trade simulations as prices dropped.
When funding rates turned negative across major perpetual markets, activity shifted toward discounted long setups, based on Leverage.Trading data. Retail behavior moved from preserving positions to constructing new ones at lower prices.
This report highlights how traders responded throughout the downturn, from margin protection to leveraged trade repositioning.
Retail traders began tightening risk before Bitcoin fell below $100,000. On Nov. 3, margin-call checks on Leverage.Trading jumped sharply, led by U.S. users. Liquidation-risk checks also increased, indicating exposure was being reassessed while prices were still above key levels.
On Nov. 4, Bitcoin dropped below $100K and more than $1.3 billion in leveraged long positions were liquidated across perpetual markets. Leverage.Trading data shows liquidation-price checks spiked more than 70% that day. Traders did not exit the market. Instead, leverage adjustments increased, indicating attempts to restructure or re-enter trades.
Retail traders appeared prepared for the first wave of liquidations rather than caught off guard.
Retail traders continued to take risk after the first liquidation shock, according to new data from Leverage.Trading. Between Nov. 5 and 7, leverage adjustments remained well above normal levels, showing that traders were sizing new positions as prices fell.
The strongest movement came on Nov. 7, when margin-call checks surged more than 200% despite no major liquidation headline. Leverage.Trading analysts say the spike reflects traders attempting to protect earlier entries as volatility persisted.
Rather than unwind positions after the initial drop, traders continued to build exposure and then defend it as price pressure increased.
Bitcoin broke below $100,000 on November 14 and continued falling into the mid-$90,000s, triggering a new wave of liquidations. Leverage.Trading data shows liquidation checks rose about 25% as traders adjusted risk levels during the decline.
Futures trading also increased, indicating that traders continued setting up positions as prices moved lower.
On November 18, when Bitcoin broke below $90,000, global liquidation checks rose 9%, while U.S. usage nearly doubled its normal share. Margin-call checks jumped 117%, suggesting traders added collateral instead of exiting positions.
Instead of exiting after the drop, traders focused on protecting open positions and avoiding forced liquidations.
Bitcoin fell into the low $80,000s on November 21, triggering roughly $1.7–2 billion in leveraged futures liquidations, according to market data. The wipeout marked the month’s most severe drawdown.
Retail traders stayed in the market.
Activity on Leverage.Trading shows liquidation-price checks jumped more than 70% from normal levels. Margin-call checks climbed over 150%, indicating traders added collateral to avoid being forced out.
Futures trading also increased by roughly 38%. Full P&L and contract-size modeling rose alongside margin activity, suggesting traders continued preparing new positions during the sell-off.
The device breakdown shows mobile users led liquidation and margin actions, while desktops were used primarily for futures structuring later in the session.
Despite the month’s largest liquidation shock, retail activity on November 21 favored survival, not exit. Funding rates turned sharply negative hours later.
After the capitulation lows, the market handed retail a reason to keep trading: funding flipped deeply negative. Short sellers were suddenly paying longs to hold positions, turning bullish trades into a discounted bet.
Beginning November 22, funding-rate checks on Leverage.Trading jumped 50–110% above baseline, with repeated spikes on the 24th and 25th. At the same time, futures scenario modeling surged to its highest multi-day activity of the month. Traders weren’t just saving positions anymore — they were constructing new ones using full P&L, margin, liquidation, and contract-size simulations.
The device split completes the transition: while the crash phase was dominated by mobile “save my trade” actions, the rebuild shifted toward desktop usage, signaling slower, planned strategy rather than emotional reaction.
Retail didn’t exit the market at the bottom. They reorganized around it. Once funding flipped in their favor, panic became positioning.
This report is based on anonymized, first-party behavioral data from Leverage.Trading’s risk calculators used by retail traders on global crypto leverage platforms and futures exchanges. The dataset covers November 1–30, 2025 and includes 98,700 risk-driven pre-trade setups, reflecting real user actions such as liquidation checks, margin-call estimates, leverage sizing, futures modeling, and funding-rate evaluations. All data is fully anonymized, aggregated, and segmented by device and region, with users detected from 180+ countries.
Market context and event timing were cross-verified against independent reporting from AP News, Forbes, Business Insider, and CoinDesk.
This dataset reflects user risk-analysis behavior only. It does not represent actual executed trades, portfolio performance, or financial advice, and should not be interpreted as predictive market guidance.
This report is published under Leverage.Trading’s Risk-First Education Framework , an independent learning system built to help traders quantify and manage risk before trading.
