Bitcoin Slides Toward $76,000 as Tech Slump Triggers $428M in Liquidations

Bitcoin reversed its post-election breakout on Thursday, dropping toward $76,000 as a steep selloff across equity markets spread to digital assets ¹. The sudden decline triggered roughly $428 million in long crypto liquidations within a single hour, according to CoinGlass figures reported by Decrypt ¹. At the time of writing, $BTC traded at $76,606, down 5.0% over the trailing 24 hours, while $ETH fell nearly 7% to $2,266.

The decline followed a brief surge above $80,000 on Wednesday, an advance driven largely by a short squeeze that wiped out approximately $378 million in short positions in an hour ¹. However, that repositioning unwound swiftly on Thursday as automated forced selling compounded market losses, dragging nearly 90% of the top 100 digital assets into the red ¹. Digital asset markets had already shed an estimated $300 billion over the preceding month, pressured by borrowing costs and fallout from a recent multibillion-dollar Binance exploit ¹.

Tech Equities and Legislative Headwinds

Broader market sentiment soured as technology shares tumbled, with the Nasdaq falling nearly 4% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index sinking roughly 8% ¹. Investors reassessed the profitability of high artificial intelligence capital expenditures following the US midterm elections, in which Democrats took control of Congress ¹. Voters in at least 29 jurisdictions supported restrictions on data center construction, leading UBS to estimate that potential moratoria could imperil up to 30% of planned 2028 US data center capacity additions, according to Reuters ¹. Shares of CoreWeave, Nebius, and Tesla all posted substantial declines ¹.

The altered legislative landscape also introduces friction for digital asset regulatory proposals in Washington, D.C. ¹. Democratic control of Congress creates hurdles for advancing the stalled Clarity Act, the market structure legislation intended to establish a federal framework for crypto ¹. The incoming Congress is scheduled to convene in January, while market participants turn their near-term attention to the Friday release of the October jobs report and expectations surrounding a potential Federal Reserve interest rate increase in December ¹.