Bitcoin fell to about $76,500 on Thursday, November 5, 2026, down nearly 5%, reversing Wednesday’s post-election jump above $80,000. The retreat coincided with a sharp technology-stock selloff and roughly $428 million in crypto long liquidations in one hour, according to Decrypt’s report.
Ethereum lost more than 5%, other major tokens posted comparable declines, and roughly 90% of the top 100 cryptocurrencies traded lower.
Original publication: November 6, 2026, at 00:29:11 UTC+08:00. This article describes the market conditions reported at that time.
From election relief to AI-spending concerns
Wednesday’s rally followed an initially unsettled response to Democrats’ sweep of Congress. Traders subsequently bet that political gridlock would limit major policy changes, while lower oil prices could ease inflation. Bitwise Europe analyst André Dragosch told Decrypt that the Democratic sweep was “largely priced in.”
By Thursday, attention had shifted toward potential constraints on the AI infrastructure boom, including opposition to electricity costs and new data centers.
Voters in at least 29 U.S. jurisdictions backed restrictions on data-center development, though not every measure was binding. According to Reuters, UBS estimated that potential pauses could threaten 30% of planned U.S. data-center capacity additions in 2028.
“We suspect there is going to be some scrutiny on this aggressive AI buildout,” Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told Reuters.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped about 8%. CoreWeave and Nebius suffered double-digit declines. Tesla fell roughly 9.5%, extending losses after Elon Musk spent heavily supporting Republican candidates.
The S&P 500 was down about 2.6% in late-morning trading, while the Nasdaq fell nearly 4%, approaching a correction—a 10% decline from its peak. Decrypt also described an almost 4% S&P 500 drop within minutes, its largest bearish intraday movement in months.
“The market’s moving from the promise of AI to the price of AI,” Incline Investment Management chief executive Ted Parkhill told Reuters.
Leverage worked in both directions
The clearest comparison was with the previous day’s rebound, not a distant market cycle.
On Wednesday, about $378 million in short positions were liquidated in one hour as Bitcoin climbed above $80,000, according to CoinGlass data. Traders closing losing bearish positions supplied much of the buying pressure described in the report.
Thursday reversed that mechanism. As prices fell, exchanges automatically closed underfunded long positions, adding selling pressure. The $428 million in crypto long liquidations illustrated how leveraged positioning could amplify the reversal; it did not, by itself, explain what initiated the decline.
A market already under pressure
Crypto had lost roughly $300 billion in market value over the preceding month. Decrypt cited concerns about AI spending, rising borrowing costs and fallout from the previous week’s multibillion-dollar Binance hack.
Traders also expected another Federal Reserve rate increase in December as inflation persisted. The October jobs report, due Friday, could change those expectations. Higher rates generally weigh on demand for speculative investments.
Democratic control also complicated efforts to revive the stalled Clarity Act, a proposed federal framework for digital assets. The incoming Congress would not take office until January, separating the immediate market reaction from any subsequent legislative changes.
The chart signal was still unfinished
Bitcoin’s hourly chart showed selling through $79,000 toward $76,100. The report identified $75,000 as the next test and a recovery above $80,000 as a development that could ease pressure.
Its daily candle was also threatening a bearish engulfing pattern that could erase Wednesday’s breakout. Thursday’s session had not closed, however, so that pattern remained unconfirmed. Neither the unfinished candle nor the rapid reversal established a cycle top or bottom.
