Bitcoin traded at $75,986 on Thursday after falling below $76,000, giving back the whole of Wednesday's post-election rally in a single session. The drop measured 5.5% over 24 hours, and the move from above $80,800 on Wednesday to $75,986 works out to $4,814, or 6.0%. Ether fell further, to $2,250, down 6.6% on MarketRadar's live snapshot, while Solana, XRP and Hyperliquid each lost 6% to 7%.
The trigger sat outside crypto. The Nasdaq headed for its worst day since April 2025, with the index down as much as 5% during the session and the Nasdaq 100 down 6.4%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 10%. Chipmakers carried the damage: AMD dropped 15.19%, Micron 15.12%, Arm 12.31%, Nvidia 8.54% and Qualcomm 8.78%, after Qualcomm's current-quarter forecast disappointed despite $650 million of data-centre revenue.
One line sums it up: bitcoin did not fall on its own news. It fell because the AI trade fell, and crypto was standing next to it.
Tuesday's US midterm vote gave Democrats majorities in the House and the Senate. Traders read that result as a brake on the data-centre buildout behind the AI boom, since new opposition in Congress could slow approvals and construction for the power-hungry facilities. That matters to crypto because miners have spent the past year shifting capacity toward AI computing, which is why mining shares tumbled 15% to 20% — a steeper fall than bitcoin itself. FalconX's Joshua Lim said fresh selling arrived as the market priced in a slower data-centre buildout, and Wednesday's rally had been short-covering into a result that was already priced in.
Leverage did the rest. CoinGlass data showed forced closes topping $1 billion across a single day, the heaviest flush since October 28-29, when bitcoin slid from near $82,000 to $76,000. FXStreet's tally put the day's figure at $1.08 billion, with $953 million of that — 88% — coming from long positions, hitting 203,418 traders. Spot bitcoin ETFs added pressure of their own, with about $1 billion in outflows on the day, roughly $900 million of it from BlackRock's IBIT.
Crypto-linked stocks fell harder than the coins: Coinbase closed at $135.08, Circle at $67.08 and BitGo at $4.5850, each down 10% to 15%, while Strategy lost 9.6% to $127.83. The pattern is the same one seen on October 28-29: when leverage unwinds, the listed proxies fall faster than the asset they track.
Why it matters
The $76,000 level carried weight as the floor of the October 28-29 slide, when bitcoin fell from near $82,000 — a 7.3% drop — and that floor has now given way. The 30-day correlation between bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 sits at 0.68, per the Bitfinex Alpha report cited by U.Today, so bitcoin's next move depends as much on chip earnings and data-centre headlines as on anything inside crypto. The $1.08 billion total also shows how much leverage had rebuilt since late October, with 88% of it longs. Wintermute's Jasper De Maere pushed back on the gloom, calling the medium term "glass half full" and pointing to crypto holding up better than AI stocks while adoption keeps building — a reminder that bitcoin's 5.5% fall was less than half the 15% to 20% drop in mining shares.
| Asset | Price | 24h move | Session note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $75,986 | -5.5% | Below $76,000, seven-week low |
| Ether (ETH) | $2,250 | -6.6% | Steeper fall than bitcoin |
| Solana / XRP / Hyperliquid | — | -6% to -7% | Each down more than bitcoin |
| Coinbase (COIN) | $135.08 | -10% to -15% | With Circle and BitGo |
| Strategy (MSTR) | $127.83 | -9.6% | Bitcoin treasury company |
| Crypto miners | — | -15% to -20% | AI-hosting pivot backfired |
What to watch
- Whether bitcoin holds above $75,000, the next round number below the broken $76,000 floor, or tests the October 28-29 low zone again.
- Friday's chip and AI stock open: a second day of double-digit semiconductor losses would keep pressure on miners and crypto stocks.
- The next CoinGlass liquidation tally: a second $1 billion day would show leverage still unwinding rather than flushed.
- Any Democratic statement on data-centre or AI regulation, which is the policy thread behind the whole move.
- The next spot bitcoin ETF flow print after roughly $1 billion left on Thursday, with $900 million from BlackRock's IBIT alone.
Key points
- Bitcoin fell below $76,000 to $75,986, down 5.5% in 24 hours and 6.0% from Wednesday's high above $80,800.
- The Nasdaq headed for its worst day since April 2025, with the Nasdaq 100 down 6.4% and the semiconductor index down 10%.
- AMD fell 15.19%, Micron 15.12%, Arm 12.31%, Nvidia 8.54% and Qualcomm 8.78%.
- Forced closes topped $1 billion in a day, $953 million of it longs, hitting 203,418 traders — the heaviest flush since October 28-29.
- Crypto miners tumbled 15% to 20%, and Coinbase, Circle and BitGo each fell 10% to 15%.
- Spot bitcoin ETFs saw about $1 billion in outflows, roughly $900 million from BlackRock's IBIT.
MarketRadar take
Bitcoin's fall is a tech-stock story wearing a crypto costume, and the numbers show it: the Nasdaq 100 fell 6.4%, miners fell three times as far as bitcoin, and the liquidation wave hit longs hardest. That leaves bitcoin in a weak spot while the AI trade keeps sliding, since the same data-centre worry that sank chips now sits over mining shares too. Wintermute's read — that the medium-term picture stays positive — has the data behind it: the coins held up better than the proxies. Our read: near-term pressure stays while AI stocks fall, with $75,000 the line to watch next, but the relative resilience argues against treating one session as a change in the longer trend.
