Bitcoin Erases Post-Election Rally as Wall Street Suffers Worst Day in 18 Months

Bitcoin gave back almost all of its post-election recovery in a single bruising session on Thursday, November 5, as a violent sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks on Wall Street spilled into digital assets. The largest cryptocurrency fell 5.65 percent to $75,880.60 in the snapshot reported by The Motley Fool at 21:17 UTC, dropping back below the $76,000 level it had only just reclaimed a day earlier. Ethereum fell harder, sliding 7.80 percent to $2,233.79, while Solana declined 6.22 percent to $89.55. The move turned what had looked like a decisive rebound into a warning that crypto remains tightly coupled to the mood in traditional markets, and that a single good day can be undone just as quickly when sentiment turns.

The scale of the reversal is what makes Thursday stand out. Only a day earlier, Bitcoin had traded around $80,484 during Asian morning hours, up 5.7 percent over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data reported by CoinDesk, with Ethereum up 8 percent to about $2,425. Within about a day, nearly all of that was gone: a delayed Market Briefer snapshot put Bitcoin 6.31 percent lower at $75,320, Ethereum 8.70 percent lower at $2,214, and Cardano down 10.06 percent to $0.179. No major coin rose. Prices here are snapshots from different times of day and will keep moving, but every snapshot told the same story.

The trigger was not crypto-specific at all. The Nasdaq sank nearly 6 percent during the session, according to CoinDesk, and a chip-sector index plunged more than 10 percent in early trading. Investors had grown concerned about elevated valuations and whether the enormous sums being poured into AI infrastructure would ever generate matching returns. Disappointing chipmaker earnings added to the pressure, and the midterm election result provided the spark: with Democrats now in control of both chambers of Congress, traders worried that political opposition could slow construction of the data centres powering the AI boom. That fear matters for crypto directly, because many Bitcoin miners have been shifting toward AI computing, and those mining shares tumbled 15 to 20 percent on the day. Leveraged trading made a bad day worse: more than $1 billion in crypto derivatives positions were liquidated over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data reported by CoinDesk, mostly from bullish bets. It was the largest wipeout since at least October 28 to 29, when Bitcoin tumbled from nearly $82,000 to $76,000.

Bitcoin Erases Post-Election Rally: How the AI Rout Reached Crypto

To understand why an AI stock sell-off hits Bitcoin so hard, it helps to trace the connections that now link the two markets. The first link is sentiment: when technology shares fall sharply, investors across all risk assets reassess how much volatility they will tolerate, and crypto, which trades around the clock and is among the most volatile assets available, is usually among the first places they reduce exposure. The second link is mechanical: many of the same funds and trading desks hold both AI stocks and crypto, so losses in one force sales in the other to meet margin calls. The third link is the miners, which have increasingly presented themselves as AI infrastructure businesses, so a sell-off in AI names hits their shares directly and feeds back into crypto sentiment. Thursday showed all three links working at once.

Crypto-linked stocks fell harder than the coins themselves. Coinbase, the largest United States crypto exchange, stablecoin issuer Circle and digital asset custody firm BitGo plunged between 10 and 15 percent, while Bitcoin treasury company Strategy lost 9.6 percent, according to CoinDesk. When the listed companies that service the crypto economy lose a tenth or more of their value in a day, it signals that mainstream investors are retreating from the sector, not merely that traders are taking profits. The contrast with gold was equally telling: gold rose on the day while Bitcoin and Ether traded as high-beta risk assets alongside the Nasdaq rather than as havens.

AI Stock Sell-Off Crypto: Altcoins and Smaller Tokens Hit Hardest

While Bitcoin’s fall dominated the headlines, the damage was worse further down the market capitalisation scale. Smaller tokens, which carry thinner liquidity and a larger share of leveraged traders, fell by double digits almost across the board. Beyond the majors, Market Briefer’s top-movers board showed only deeper falls, led by LayerZero, down 13.80 percent, Ethena, down 13.40 percent, Uniswap, down 12.76 percent, Ether.fi, down 12.21 percent, and Ondo, down 12.16 percent. These are not obscure names: Uniswap is the largest decentralised exchange token, Ethena is one of the most closely watched stablecoin projects, and Ondo is a leading tokenised real-world asset protocol. When tokens of that standing fall more than 12 percent in a day, it signals a broad withdrawal of risk appetite rather than a problem with any single project.

The major altcoins told the same story in slightly milder form. The Motley Fool’s table put BNB down 4.0 percent at $689.13, XRP down 6.3 percent at $1.22, and Zcash down 3.6 percent at $1,244.12, while TRON limited its decline to 0.5 percent at $0.3180, the smallest loss among the top ten by a wide margin. In Market Briefer’s later snapshot, TRON was again the most resilient major, down just 0.66 percent at $0.318. That resilience suggests not all selling was indiscriminate, and that traders were distinguishing between assets they considered defensive and those they considered speculative. Even so, the breadth of the decline was striking: in the Fool’s top-ten table, only one asset rose on the day, Figure Heloc, up 1.5 percent at $1.04, while the two stablecoins, Tether and USDC, held their pegs as usual. Everything else fell.

Crypto Liquidations November: More Than $1 Billion Wiped Out

The liquidation figures from Thursday deserve a careful look, because they explain both why the fall was so steep and what might come next. When a trader opens a leveraged position, the exchange requires collateral, or margin. If the price moves far enough against the position, the exchange closes it automatically to prevent further losses. That forced closure is a liquidation, and it tends to happen in clusters when prices move fast, because many positions share similar liquidation levels. On Thursday, more than $1 billion in crypto derivatives positions were liquidated over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data reported by CoinDesk, with most of the total coming from bullish bets. The dominant pain was felt by traders who had bet that the post-election rebound would continue, and who were forced out as prices reversed.

This matters for two reasons. First, forced selling is not the same as a trader choosing to sell. It adds supply to the market at exactly the moment when buyers are most cautious, which is why liquidation-driven declines can overshoot. Second, a large flush of leverage can clear the way for a cleaner move afterwards, because fewer overextended positions remain to be forced out. But it can also leave the market thinner and more fragile, with participants nursing losses and less willing to add risk. Thursday’s wipeout cuts both ways, and the same was true of Wednesday’s near-$1 billion liquidation wave in the opposite direction. Taken together, the two days show a market whipsawed by leverage around a major political event, with traders on both sides paying heavily for their conviction.

What Traders Watch Next After the Reversal

The immediate question is whether Bitcoin can defend the $75,000 to $76,000 region. The Motley Fool flagged this zone as increasingly important, noting that bulls will want to see it held or Bitcoin risks a deeper correction. That assessment is grounded in recent price history: Bitcoin dipped toward $75,600 to $75,700 in the election-night sell-off, recovered, and has now fallen back to the same area. A level tested twice in quick succession either becomes a floor, because buyers step in there repeatedly, or it breaks, because each test weakens it. The broader altcoin market faces a similar test, with Ethereum, XRP and Solana having surrendered much of their earlier gains and traders watching whether key support levels can hold.

The next scheduled catalyst is the United States October nonfarm payrolls report, due Friday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. The report is expected to show a rise of about 62,000 to 65,000 jobs after September’s 29,000, with unemployment seen steady at 4.2 percent, according to Market Briefer. A payrolls print that surprises in either direction could easily overshadow the election reaction. Stronger-than-expected jobs data might support risk assets or raise concerns about interest rates, depending on how traders interpret it, while weaker data could revive worries about growth. Either way, crypto is unlikely to trade in isolation from broader macro data in the coming sessions, and Thursday proved that point emphatically. In a market where prices can rise 5 percent on Wednesday and fall 6 percent on Thursday, the trend is not your friend until it survives more than one session.

FAQ

Why did Bitcoin fall so sharply on November 5?

Bitcoin fell 5.65 percent to $75,880.60 in The Motley Fool’s 21:17 UTC snapshot as an AI stock sell-off spread to crypto. The Nasdaq sank nearly 6 percent and a chip-sector index plunged more than 10 percent.

How much did other major cryptocurrencies fall?

Ethereum fell 7.80 percent to $2,233.79 and Solana declined 6.22 percent to $89.55 in the same snapshot, while Cardano fell 10.06 percent to $0.179 and LayerZero, Ethena and Uniswap each fell more than 12 percent.

How large were crypto liquidations on November 5?

More than $1 billion in crypto derivatives positions were liquidated over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data reported by CoinDesk, mostly from bullish bets, the largest wipeout since at least October 28 to 29.

What happened to crypto-linked stocks?

Coinbase, Circle and BitGo plunged between 10 and 15 percent, while Bitcoin treasury company Strategy lost 9.6 percent. Bitcoin mining shares, many of which have shifted toward AI computing, tumbled 15 to 20 percent.

What should traders watch next?

The key level is Bitcoin’s $75,000 to $76,000 support zone, tested twice in two days, and the October nonfarm payrolls report due Friday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern is the next major catalyst.

Source: The Motley Fool/CoinDesk/Market Briefer

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