Market mood remains in Extreme Fear (Fear & Greed Index around 24), reflecting heightened volatility and caution amid the pullback.

Kazakhstan is reportedly considering a crypto investment range from $50 million to $300 million of foreign exchange reserves, signaling growing institutional interest in emerging markets.

Industry voices offer strategic takes, including conditional selling under extreme scenarios, warnings about governance changes in Zcash, a Yearn exploit underscoring DeFi risk, and Coinbase advocating dollar-cost averaging.

The initial sell-off sent Bitcoin from about $89,700 down to $87,700, triggering heavy liquidations including roughly $171 million in long positions and nearly $14 million in shorts within the past hour, with over $91 million in shorts liquidated in the last four hours.

Observers describe the move as coordinated "engineered liquidity collection" due to thin weekend order books that enable large swings by whales.

Looking ahead to December, analysts expect volatility shifts tied to the Chainlink ETF, Federal Reserve policy signals, and ongoing macro data, signaling a pivotal month for crypto.

Tether defends its reserves, noting billions in excess reserves, roughly $30 billion in total equity, and solid earnings from U.S. Treasuries.

Analysts note more than $300 million in leveraged positions have been cleared, reducing leverage but increasing sensitivity to future large trades, with $93,000 as a critical level that could trigger further liquidations if breached by a rally.

Yearn Finance disclosed a major exploit on yETH, with attackers minting unlimited yETH and draining liquidity, prompting security discussions across DeFi.

The episode highlights concerns about low liquidity and fragile weekend order books, as demand and derivatives markets reset into the new trading week.

Bitcoin faced a chaotic Sunday as whale-driven sell orders hit the market, causing a rapid $2,000 drop followed by a sharp rebound.

Over the weekend, Bitcoin also slid about $4,000 to around $87,500 on thin liquidity and high leverage, with more than $400 million in longs liquidated within an hour.