Market Performance and Mechanisms of the Monero Liquidation Storm
In mid-November 2026, the cryptocurrency market experienced significant volatility, during which the privacy-focused coin Monero (XMR) suffered a sharp correction, plunging below the key $470 threshold. Alongside the rapid price decline, long positions in the derivatives market faced consecutive and intensive liquidations. According to on-chain and derivatives data monitoring platforms such as Coinglass and CoinStats, against the backdrop of total network-wide crypto asset liquidations exceeding $1.4 billion in a single day, the liquidation structure of XMR showed an extreme imbalance, with long liquidations accounting for over 93.5%. The core mechanism behind this phenomenon was the accumulation of heavily leveraged long positions in the market. When prices broke below key technical support levels, it triggered automated liquidation mechanisms (forced liquidation), which in turn sparked a cascading "long squeeze" that exacerbated the short-term plunge in prices.
Catalytic Effects of Exchange Delistings and Tightening Liquidity
In addition to the washout of long leverage in the derivatives market, the tightening of access channels in both spot and futures markets was also a major driver of this Monero storm. Recently, several mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges further adjusted their asset listing strategies. For instance, MEXC officially suspended XMR spot trading on November 13, 2026, and delisted the related USDT-M perpetual contracts within an hour thereafter. Such intensive delisting actions by mainstream trading platforms directly led to the fragmentation and partial depletion of market liquidity. For investors relying on CEXs for rapid position-building and hedging, the reduction in trading channels meant a sharp rise in entry and exit costs, thereby amplifying market panic and translating into persistent selling pressure in the spot market.
Dual Suppression from Macroeconomic Environments and Privacy Coin Regulation
From a deeper macro and compliance perspective, the storm hitting Monero this time was not an isolated incident. At the macro level, driven by escalating US inflation expectations and uncertainties surrounding the Federal Reserve's monetary policy path, the risk appetite across the global crypto market declined rapidly (Risk-off mode). Bitcoin and a slew of mainstream assets generally faced pressure, and privacy coins—being high-risk assets—were naturally unable to insulate themselves. On the regulatory front, as global anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing rules continue to tighten, such as the advancement of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) and ongoing law enforcement actions targeting darknet and illicit capital flows, ongoing pressure continues to weigh on the compliance outlook for privacy coins. Because Monero defaults to and mandates the use of ring signatures, stealth addresses, and Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT) to obscure transaction parties and amounts, this untraceability subjects it to sustained resistance from the traditional financial system and certain jurisdictions amid increasingly stringent regulatory frameworks, thereby persistently impacting market participant confidence and capital pricing.
Platform availability information in the text changes dynamically with exchange listings and delistings; please refer to official exchange announcements.
