On September 15, the U.S. Senate’s procedural vote (cloture vote) on the CLARITY Act failed to reach the 60-vote threshold and did not proceed to formal debate.
The House version of the bill had already passed in the summer of 2025; this Senate setback is widely viewed as eliminating any chance of advancement in 2026.
Following the news, BTC quickly broke below $75,000, with total liquidations across the network reaching approximately $771 million within 24 hours, of which long positions accounted for about $569 million—indicating a clear deleveraging move.
What is Exchange Netflow?
Exchange Netflow is one of the most fundamental on-chain metrics, calculated as “total BTC flowing into exchanges” minus “total BTC flowing out of exchanges.”
A positive value indicates more BTC is being deposited into exchanges, generally interpreted as increased potential selling pressure; a negative value (shown in red) indicates net outflows, typically interpreted as coins moving into self-custody or long-term holding, with lower short-term selling intent.
CryptoQuant separates exchanges into Spot and Derivative categories for separate tracking. This distinction is critical—net flows between the two categories do not always move in sync, and that divergence is exactly what makes this event noteworthy.
Derivatives Exchanges: Margin and Liquidation Signals
Observing derivatives exchange netflow on the day of the CLARITY Act vote failure, the single-day net inflow expanded sharply, standing out as the most prominent reading in the past month.
This anomaly should not be simply read as “large-scale spot selling in the derivatives market.” A more reasonable explanation lies in the margin mechanism: when a sharp price drop triggers cascading liquidations, leveraged traders rush to deposit BTC to top up margin and avoid being liquidated; at the same time, collateral seized from forced long liquidations is credited to exchange wallets.
These two forces combined cause derivatives exchange netflow to swing sharply positive—timing that aligns exactly with the $771 million in liquidations (with longs dominating).
Spot Exchanges: No Panic Inflows
In the same time window, spot exchange netflow turned negative (outflows).
If the decline had been driven by panic selling from spot holders, we would expect spot exchange net inflows to increase (coins deposited for sale). Instead, the data moved in the opposite direction—BTC continued to leave spot exchanges.
The size of these outflows is comparable to other notable outflow periods recently, indicating that spot holdings kept moving during the drop, but the direction was withdrawals rather than deposits for selling.
Conclusion: Deleveraging Was the Main Driver, Not Spot Panic Selling
Viewed together, the signal structure of this decline is clear: the impact originated primarily from forced liquidations and margin calls in the derivatives market. Spot exchanges did not see a simultaneous surge in selling-related inflows, and the coin structure remained relatively stable.
This drop was driven by deleveraging, not spot panic selling pressure.
This distinction has practical implications for judging the strength of any subsequent rebound. If spot continues to show net outflows and the derivatives inflow spike proves to be a one-time liquidation event, the decline is more likely a short-term deleveraging move rather than the start of a trend reversal. However, if spot also shifts to sustained net inflows in the coming days, it would be necessary to reassess whether spot-side selling pressure is emerging.
Looking at netflow from only one exchange category can easily lead to misjudgment; separating spot and derivatives data reveals the full story of coin movements.