The S&P 500 fell as much as 3.8% on Thursday, November 5, 2026, erasing the previous session’s rally and drawing attention to Wall Street’s emergency trading-halt rules. Bitcoin dropped below $76,000 as the selloff spread into crypto.
At the time of Decrypt’s report, the S&P 500 had not triggered a market-wide circuit breaker. From its reported 3.8% decline, it would have needed to fall another 3.2 percentage points to reach the first threshold.
Historical report: the original article was published November 6, 2026, at 02:05:21 UTC+8, corresponding to November 5 at 1:05:21 p.m. ET.
A one-session reversal
Wednesday’s advance had followed the Democratic Party’s sweeping midterm election victories. The S&P 500 rose 1.6%, its strongest daily gain in three months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added more than 1,500 points.
President Donald Trump celebrated the market’s highs that day on Truth Social, writing that Americans’ retirement accounts were “through the roof.” Less than 24 hours later, Thursday’s losses had erased the S&P 500’s rally.
The sequence documents a rapid reversal. It does not, by itself, establish a single cause for either session’s move.
Technology and AI infrastructure under pressure
At around 11 a.m. ET Thursday, the Nasdaq Composite was down nearly 5% and the S&P 500 was down 3.2%. Nvidia had lost more than 6%, while the broader semiconductor index had fallen nearly 11%.
Decrypt reported concerns that Democratic election victories could lead to stricter oversight of data-center construction, weighing on companies involved in AI infrastructure.
“We suspect there is going to be some scrutiny on this aggressive AI buildout,” Swissquote Bank senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told Reuters.
Other reported pressures included persistent inflation concerns and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate decision. Investors were awaiting Friday’s October employment report for further clues about monetary policy.
Bitcoin’s recovery gives way to liquidations
Bitcoin’s fall below $76,000 wiped out its post-election recovery. Citing its earlier reporting that day, Decrypt said approximately $428 million in leveraged crypto long positions were liquidated within an hour.
That places a substantial burst of forced position closures alongside the crypto decline. The report does not establish how much of Bitcoin’s move those liquidations caused, or whether the reversal marked a broader cycle turning point.
What would trigger a trading halt?
U.S. market-wide circuit breakers are based on the S&P 500’s decline from its previous closing price:
- 7%: A 15-minute trading halt if reached before 3:25 p.m. ET.
- 13%: Another 15-minute halt if reached before 3:25 p.m. ET.
- 20%: Trading stops for the remainder of the day, regardless of when the threshold is reached.
These rules cover the entire U.S. equity market, including companies listed on Nasdaq and other U.S. exchanges—not only S&P 500 constituents. The first two thresholds stop applying at 3:25 p.m. ET; the 20% threshold remains active throughout the session.
The distinction matters: Thursday’s decline brought emergency thresholds into focus, but the report described a sharp selloff, not an activated market-wide halt.
