Inflation came in hot, and leveraged crypto traders paid the bill. Within one hour of the October US Consumer Price Index release, $178 million in crypto long positions were liquidated.

Bitcoin fell below $74,000 as the numbers hit. Traders who had borrowed to bet on higher prices discovered how quickly a single data print can rearrange a portfolio.

The October 2026 CPI data, published on November 10, showed headline consumer prices rising 0.4% month-over-month. Economists had forecast 0.3%.

Core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, also beat forecasts. It climbed 0.3% against an expected 0.2%.

So both measures overshot. A miss on just one might have been shrugged off. A miss on both left little room for an optimistic…