# 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 2026-11-06 · Payaries · https://www.payaries.com/blog/bitcoin-crypto-after-us-midterms-chip-crash

## What happened

> **Written 6 November 2026.** From Yahoo Finance, Bitcoin Magazine, Tokenpost, CryptoTimes, Bitbase and Crypto News Flash reports of 5 November. Thursday 5 November figures are intraday readings from live reports. None of the sources reviewed gave official closing levels, so treat every move as approximate until you check a final close. Crypto trades around the clock, so there is no single “close”. Payaries is a technology platform, not an adviser. This article reports public information and is not investment, tax or legal advice. Markets are moving quickly — figures below are as reported on the dates given, and the sources linked at the end are the place to check current levels.

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 figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | About $75,900 to $77,000; down about 5% from above $80,000 | Yahoo Finance; CryptoTimes; Bitcoin Magazine |
| Liquidations, early | About $428 million of longs | Bitbase |
| Liquidations, within an hour | About $574 million to nearly $600 million | Tokenpost; other same-day reports |
| Liquidations, 24 hours | $718.5 million, 82.9% of it longs | CryptoTimes |
| Liquidations, later tallies | $850 million to more than $1 billion | Gokhshtein; Crypto News Flash |
| Crypto stocks | Strategy 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.

## Why 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](https://www.payaries.com/blog/bitcoin-falls-below-80000-middle-east-october-2026). Five days later the Binance exchange suffered a hot-wallet hack with an estimated $5.8–6.3 billion drained; see [that report](https://www.payaries.com/blog/binance-hack-october-2026-what-happened-and-what-users-should-do). The sell-off came on a market already unsettled.

## Is crypto a hedge against this?

The day gives a plain answer. Gold rose as stocks fell (see [part 8](https://www.payaries.com/blog/gold-price-after-us-midterms-2026)); 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.

## What 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.

## What 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](https://www.payaries.com/usdt-payment-gateway) and [how Open USD works](https://www.payaries.com/blog/open-usd-stablecoin-explained).
- **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](https://www.payaries.com/guides/how-a-crypto-payment-gateway-works) explains the sequence.

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

## The 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. [The crash: what happened on 5 November](https://www.payaries.com/blog/us-stock-market-crash-november-5-2026)
2. [How $2.7 trillion was wiped out in a day, and whether that number is real](https://www.payaries.com/blog/2-7-trillion-wiped-out-in-one-day-explained)
3. [From rally to rout: why stocks rose on the Democratic win and crashed a day later](https://www.payaries.com/blog/wall-street-rally-to-rout-democrats-win-chip-crash)
4. [The Democratic win: what the midterm result changes](https://www.payaries.com/blog/democrats-win-congress-2026-midterms-what-changes)
5. [What a Democratic Congress means for the world economy](https://www.payaries.com/blog/democratic-congress-world-economy-tariffs-oil-dollar)
6. [The data-center backlash and what it means for AI](https://www.payaries.com/blog/data-center-backlash-democrats-ai-buildout)
7. [Is it really an AI bubble? The evidence on both sides](https://www.payaries.com/blog/is-ai-a-bubble-evidence-for-and-against)
8. [Gold after the midterms](https://www.payaries.com/blog/gold-price-after-us-midterms-2026)
9. **Bitcoin and crypto after the midterms and the chip crash** (this article)
10. [What happens next: the dates, scenarios and signals to watch](https://www.payaries.com/blog/what-happens-next-us-stocks-after-ai-crash)
11. [The discussion: the hardest questions about the crash and the AI bubble, answered](https://www.payaries.com/blog/ai-bubble-debate-questions-answered)

## Sources and as-of date

> **What we could not verify.** There is no official close for Bitcoin; levels and liquidation totals differ by exchange and window. The CLARITY Act link is described as less established in the reports and we have not read the bill. The crypto-stock moves (Strategy, Coinbase) come from same-day report summaries. Payaries statements come from its integration guide and product page.

- [Stock market today: Nasdaq plunges 5% amid chip stock wipeout — Yahoo Finance](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/live/stock-market-today-thursday-november-5-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-oil-rises-chip-stocks-141439950.html)
- [Bitcoin Price Crashes 5% Below $75,000 Amid Tech Rout — Bitcoin Magazine](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/bitcoin-price-drops-below-75000-tech)
- [Bitcoin Price Today: BTC Falls Below $77K as Crypto Liquidations Reach $718.5M — CryptoTimes](https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/11/05/bitcoin-price-today-btc-falls-below-77k-as-crypto-liquidations-reach-718-5m/)
- [Bitcoin Wipes Out Post-Election Gains as AI Stock Rout Triggers $428 Million in Crypto Long Liquidations — Bitbase](https://www.bitbase.com/news/bitcoin-erases-election-rally-ai-stocks-plunge-428-million-crypto-longs)
- [Bitcoin Drops to $76,000 as Crypto Liquidations Top $1B — Crypto News Flash](https://www.crypto-news-flash.com/bitcoin-drops-below-76000-crypto-liquidations-top-1b/)

## 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.

## Try it

Run a real invoice before you commit: [Payaries — www.payaries.com](https://www.payaries.com/signup). Payaries is a multi-chain crypto payment gateway — https://www.payaries.com

## Keep reading

- https://www.payaries.com/blog/gold-price-after-us-midterms-2026 — Gold after the midterms: why it climbed while stocks crashed
- https://www.payaries.com/blog/what-happens-next-us-stocks-after-ai-crash — What happens next: the dates, three scenarios and the signals that matter
- https://www.payaries.com/blog/us-stock-market-crash-november-5-2026 — The US stock market crash of 5 November 2026: what happened, in numbers
- https://www.payaries.com/blog/bitcoin-falls-below-80000-middle-east-october-2026 — Bitcoin slips below $80,000 as Middle East security warnings hit crypto: what happened and what merchants should do
- https://www.payaries.com/usdt-payment-gateway — Accept USDT payments on Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Tron and more
- https://www.payaries.com/guides/how-a-crypto-payment-gateway-works — How a crypto payment gateway works, from invoice to settlement
- https://www.payaries.com/blog/binance-hack-october-2026-what-happened-and-what-users-should-do — The Binance hack: what happened, what Binance has promised, and what users should do now