Bitcoin Erases Post-Election Rally as Liquidations Top $1 Billion

Bitcoin fell below $76,000 on Thursday, giving back the rally that followed the U.S. midterm election and sliding almost 5% from above $80,800 as a selloff in AI-linked stocks spread into crypto. More than $1 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out over 24 hours, and about $954 million of it was longs: the bets that pay when prices rise.

If your positions were leaning with the market, Thursday was built to hurt. Bitcoin touched a low near $76,100 shortly after the U.S. stock market opened, its weakest level since the start of the week, undoing the jump above $80,000 that followed the vote.

The Numbers Behind the Drop

• Bitcoin: about 5% lower on the day, near $76,000, with a 24-hour range of $75,573 to $80,882.
• Ether: down 7.5% to about $2,251. Solana: down 7.9% to $89.16.
• XRP: down 6.1% to $1.23. BNB: down 3.9% to $691.42.
• Liquidations: $954.38 million in longs, 88.2% of the total, against $127.30 million in shorts, across 210,326 traders in 24 hours.
• Total crypto market cap: down 4.6% to about $2.66 trillion.
• U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs: a net $74.6 million in on Wednesday, ending a three-day run of outflows, led by Fidelity's FBTC while BlackRock's IBIT saw money leave.

The exact levels moved by the minute and differ between snapshots. Bitcoin was put near $75,700 on Thursday, so treat the precise price as approximate.

The Mirror Image of Wednesday's Squeeze

On Wednesday the pain was on the other side. About $378 million in short positions were liquidated in a single hour as bitcoin pushed above $80,000, part of the near $1 billion in liquidations that ran as traders betting against the price were forced out.

Thursday reversed it. Most of the long liquidations came in one four-hour stretch: $817.35 million of the $896.18 million closed in that window were longs, and the 12-hour total reached $982.43 million. By asset, bitcoin positions accounted for $280.65 million of the wreckage, 89.4% of it longs, ether $174.86 million at 82% longs and Solana $37.62 million. The single largest was a $10.94 million ETHUSDT long on Binance.

Liquidation data, which CoinGlass compiles, is reported by window rather than as one tally, so the totals do not line up: about $370 million in one hour as bitcoin broke $77,000, about $428 million in longs in another hour, and more than $1 billion across 24 hours.

AI Stocks Broke First

The pressure came from equities, not crypto. The Nasdaq Composite fell 4.7% and the S&P 500 lost 3.5%, with the Nasdaq slipping into correction territory, 10% below the record close it set last month. At the worst of it a chip-sector index dropped more than 10%, and U.S. stocks shed about $2.3 trillion in market value in the first hour of trading.

Crypto-linked equities fell harder than the majors. Coinbase dropped 10.56% to $135.50 and Strategy lost 10.12% to $128.11. Robinhood fell 11.81% to $77.09, and Circle, the stablecoin issuer, slid 11.92% to $67.05.

What set the selling off is not settled. It came amid doubts about AI spending and rising borrowing costs, against a market that had already lost roughly $300 billion in value in the month before the election.

What to Watch: Jobs, CPI and the Fed

The next scheduled tests are close together. Friday's October jobs report lands first, then October CPI on Nov. 10 and the Fed's rate decision on Dec. 9.

Initial jobless claims fell to 189,000 last week, below the 196,000 economists expected, a firm labour reading that leaves the rate path open. For crypto, the level to reclaim is the $80,000 round number that both the squeeze and the selloff turned on. A close back above it would put Wednesday's move in play again, while another leg lower would test Thursday's low.