Payaries

Analysis · Part 9 of 11

Bitcoin and crypto after the midterms and the chip crash: what happened and what it means

Bitcoin rose above $80,000 on the day after the election and gave it all back the next day, falling about 5% to roughly $76,000 as the AI-stock sell-off hit, with long-position liquidations reported anywhere from about $430 million to more than $1 billion depending on the source and the window. Crypto-linked shares fell harder than the coin. The day showed again that Bitcoin trades with technology stocks, not against them. This piece covers the price action, the reasons, the open question over crypto legislation under a Democratic Congress, and what it means for a business that accepts crypto payments.

Updated · 6 min read

01What happened

Yahoo Finance had Bitcoin at $75,928.82, down 4.99%, after it rose above $80,000 on Wednesday. One report put its low at $75,463 on Bitstamp, its lowest since September, and noted that buyers defended the mid-September low near $75,000. Bitcoin Magazine's headline said Bitcoin crashed 5% below $75,000 amid the tech rout; levels in the $75,000 to $77,000 range recur in all the reports, so use that as the band.

Measure (5 Nov)Reported figureSource
BitcoinAbout $75,900 to $77,000; down about 5% from above $80,000Yahoo Finance; CryptoTimes; Bitcoin Magazine
Liquidations, earlyAbout $428 million of longsBitbase
Liquidations, within an hourAbout $574 million to nearly $600 millionTokenpost; other same-day reports
Liquidations, 24 hours$718.5 million, 82.9% of it longsCryptoTimes
Liquidations, later tallies$850 million to more than $1 billionGokhshtein; Crypto News Flash
Crypto stocksStrategy down more than 11%; Coinbase down about 10%Reports summarised on 5 November

Liquidations are forced closures of leveraged trades. When prices fall, exchanges close positions that no longer have enough collateral, which sells more of the coin and pushes the price lower. The wide range is because outlets count different exchanges and time windows. A mostly-long figure of about 83% shows the market was leaning one way.

02Why crypto fell

  • It followed tech. The reports tie the drop to the AI-stock rout. The Nasdaq was down about 3.5% and the S&P 500 about 2.3% when the first crypto reports were written, and both ended the session lower still. Bitbase's headline says Bitcoin “wipes out post-election gains”.
  • Leverage. Long positions made up most of the liquidations, which turned a fall into a faster one.
  • Crypto-linked equities. Strategy and Coinbase fell more than 10%, so investors with exposure to both stocks and coin were hit twice.
  • Legislation uncertainty, less clearly. Some outlets also tie the move to the Democratic sweep and the prospects of the CLARITY Act, a market-structure bill. That link is less established than the tech-stock one. Treat it as an open question, not a cause.

It was not the first shock in two weeks. Bitcoin had already slipped below $80,000 on 24 October on Middle East security warnings, ETF outflows and liquidations; see that story. Five days later the Binance exchange suffered a hot-wallet hack with an estimated $5.8–6.3 billion drained; see that report. The sell-off came on a market already unsettled.

03Is crypto a hedge against this?

The day gives a plain answer. Gold rose as stocks fell (see part 8); Bitcoin fell with them. In this episode Bitcoin behaved like a high-beta technology asset, moving in the same direction as the Nasdaq but by a different amount and with more leverage behind it. One day does not settle a long-running debate about whether Bitcoin is “digital gold”, but it is evidence about how it trades when money leaves risk.

04What a Democratic Congress means for crypto

The honest answer is that the sources reviewed do not say. The only direct mention is an unsettled link to the CLARITY Act. What is certain is the mechanics: any crypto law now needs a Democratic House and Senate and a President who can veto it, so its timetable and content will depend on negotiation between them. Which way that cuts is not stated in the coverage we reviewed, and we do not speculate. Check the bill's text and the sponsors' statements.

05What it means if you accept crypto payments

A day like this is a reminder of one thing: the risk to a business is not that crypto prices move, it is whether the business is exposed to the move between the time a customer pays and the time the business turns it into the money it uses. These points describe how Payaries handles the sequence; they are not predictions.

  • Price in fiat. On Payaries, you create an invoice in a fiat amount; the one-time deposit address comes with the fiat amount locked at the rate captured when the invoice was created.
  • Stablecoins keep the amount stable. Payments in stablecoins such as USDT and USDC do not move 5% in a day the way Bitcoin did. See the USDT payment gateway and how Open USD works.
  • Withdraw when you choose. You can withdraw any amount to any address on demand, so you decide how long to hold anything.
  • Know which assets you take. If you accept a volatile coin, the gap between receipt and withdrawal is your exposure. How a crypto payment gateway works explains the sequence.

This is not advice on holding any asset. It describes a payment flow.

06The full series, in reading order

This is one of eleven connected pieces on the November 2026 election and market shock. Read them in order, or jump to the one you need.

  1. 01The crash: what happened on 5 November
  2. 02How $2.7 trillion was wiped out in a day, and whether that number is real
  3. 03From rally to rout: why stocks rose on the Democratic win and crashed a day later
  4. 04The Democratic win: what the midterm result changes
  5. 05What a Democratic Congress means for the world economy
  6. 06The data-center backlash and what it means for AI
  7. 07Is it really an AI bubble? The evidence on both sides
  8. 08Gold after the midterms
  9. 09Bitcoin and crypto after the midterms and the chip crash (this article)
  10. 10What happens next: the dates, scenarios and signals to watch
  11. 11The discussion: the hardest questions about the crash and the AI bubble, answered

07Sources and as-of date

Questions

How much did Bitcoin fall on 5 November 2026?
About 5%, from above $80,000 on Wednesday to roughly $75,900–$77,000, with a reported low of $75,463 on Bitstamp, its lowest since September. There is no official close for Bitcoin.
How much was liquidated in the crypto sell-off?
Reports range from about $428 million of longs early to $718.5 million over 24 hours (82.9% longs) and more than $1 billion in later tallies, depending on the exchanges and time window counted.
Did the Democratic win cause the crypto crash?
The reports tie the fall mainly to the AI-stock sell-off. Some link it to the Democratic sweep and the CLARITY Act, but that link is described as less established.
Is Bitcoin a safe haven?
On 5 November it fell with technology stocks while gold rose, so it did not act as one that day. One day does not settle the question.
How can a business avoid crypto price swings when taking payments?
Price invoices in fiat and accept stablecoins such as USDT or USDC, and withdraw on your own schedule. On Payaries the fiat amount is locked at the rate captured when the invoice is created. This describes a payment flow, not advice.

Keep reading

Next

Run a real invoice before you commit

Test keys work immediately, with no approval step. Payaries runs on real mainnet networks, so use a small real payment to test.

Create an account
Read the FAQ