Bitcoin Crashes 6% to $75,463 as Election Rally Vanishes — Is $75K Next?

Bitcoin fell more than 6% on Thursday to $75,463, its lowest price since September 16. The whole post-election rally is gone in a single day, and the $75,000 level now decides what happens next.

Key points:

• Bitcoin dropped to $75,463 on Bitstamp, down more than 6%, one day after jumping back above $80,000.
• Stocks fell just as hard: The Nasdaq lost more than 4% and chip stocks dropped 8% or more as investors questioned AI spending.
• More than $1 billion in crypto margin bets were wiped out in 24 hours, the biggest flush since late October.

Why did the rally fall apart so fast?

The easy read is that the election caused the crash. The numbers say something else. On Wednesday, Bitcoin jumped above $80,000, but most of that buying came from traders closing losing bets against it. About $378 million in short positions were wiped out in a single hour as the price pushed up, according to CoinGlass data reported by Decrypt. That is short covering, not fresh money walking in.

My own read is simple: Wednesday was a squeeze, not a turn. Rallies built on forced buying rarely last, and this one lasted about a day. Joshua Lim, global co-head of markets at FalconX, said the same thing in plain terms. The relief rally, he said, "was driven by a lot of short-covering into a well-telegraphed result." When the buyers are mostly people closing losing bets, the rally has thin legs.

Read also: Binance $6.3B Hack Pushes Bitcoin Below $77,000 — What Breaks Next?

AI stocks led the fall, and miners took the worst of it

Thursday's selling started in tech and spread to crypto. The Nasdaq fell more than 4%, and at one point in the session CoinDesk had it down nearly 6%, on track for its worst day since the April tariff sell-off. The S&P 500 lost about 2.7%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped about 8%, while CoreWeave and Nebius fell by double digits and Tesla slid roughly 9.5%.

Crypto miners, many of which have been shifting their business toward AI computing, tumbled 15% to 20%. Coinbase, Circle and BitGo fell 10% to 15%, and Strategy, the Bitcoin treasury company, lost 9.6%. Ether dropped to about $2,250, and Solana, XRP and Hyperliquid fell 6% to 7%. Roughly 90% of the top 100 cryptocurrencies were in the red.

Behind the selling sits a fight over the AI buildout. Democrats swept Congress on Tuesday, and investors are now weighing what that means for data-center construction. Voters in at least 29 US jurisdictions backed limits on new data centers, and UBS estimates the pauses could threaten 30% of planned US data-center capacity additions in 2028. Carlos Guzman, vice president of research at GSR, said the midterms "appear to have triggered this sell-off," and added that doubts about the returns on AI spending were already building. Disappointing earnings from chipmakers added to the pressure. Economist Mohamed El-Erian called the tech weakness "not surprising," while portfolio manager Jordan Watson warned that the post-election gains should not be treated as an "all-clear signal."

The $75,000 line is the one that matters now

Bitcoin briefly slipped below its 50-week simple moving average at $75,733, putting that long-term line under pressure. The next test is $75,000, while taking back $80,000 would ease the strain. The daily candle is shaping up as a bearish engulfing pattern, which would swallow Wednesday's green candle whole, but Thursday's candle has not closed yet, so the pattern stays unconfirmed for now.

One trader's warning is worth hearing. Rekt Capital noted that Bitcoin is repeating its May behavior, when rangebound moves around $80,000 gave way to a breakdown and new macro lows of $57,000 in late June. That is a parallel, not a forecast, but it shows how fast a stuck price can turn into a falling one.

The market was already weak before the election. Crypto had lost roughly $300 billion in value over the previous month, amid worries about AI spending, rising borrowing costs and the fallout from last week's multibillion-dollar Binance hack. The last liquidation flush this big came on October 28 and 29, when Bitcoin tumbled from nearly $82,000 to $76,000. Oil added to the risk-off mood: WTI crude moved back above $90 a barrel and Brent gained 2.5% to approach $97, after reports of fresh strikes on tankers in the Middle East.

The forced selling was heavy. Roughly $428 million in crypto longs were liquidated within one hour, and more than $1 billion in derivatives positions were wiped out over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass. That data adds up exchange-reported figures, so treat it as a strong signal, not an audited count. Traders also expect another Federal Reserve rate increase in December as inflation sticks around, and Friday's October jobs report could change those bets.

Write down three numbers before Friday

Start with the levels, because they are the only facts that will not change overnight. Write down $75,000, the line that has to hold. Write down $75,733, the 50-week average Bitcoin just slipped under. And write down $80,000, the level a real recovery has to take back. If Bitcoin closes a day below $75,000, the May parallel starts to look less like a warning and more like a map.

Then watch Friday's October jobs report. Hot jobs data would firm up the December rate-hike bets and hit risk assets again. Watch the Nasdaq and the chip names too: If AI stocks keep falling, Bitcoin has shown it follows. One calm voice is worth keeping in mind. Wintermute's Jasper De Maere said crypto has held up well next to the AI stock rout, and that the medium term is "still glass half full," with bargains likely to surface over time. Until Bitcoin takes back $80,000, treat every bounce as a question, not an answer.

Read also: CZ Wants Crypto Security Alliance After $6.3B Binance Hack — Will Firms Join?

— BitByLine News Desk

This post is news only, not financial advice. BitByLine never tells anyone to buy or sell crypto. That call is always yours, and the risk is yours too. Always do your own research first. Read our full Disclaimer.

Sources: Cointelegraph, Decrypt, CoinDesk.