Bitcoin slips below $76,000 as crypto fear returns after stock rout

Bitcoin slipped below $76,000 overnight and crypto sentiment fell back into fear, as the stock market rout that erased the post-election rally carried into the Asian session. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropped to 28 from a neutral 50 a day earlier, its sharpest one-day swing of the past week.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin traded at $75,962 at 01:31 UTC on November 6, according to CoinGecko. That is down 5.49% over 24 hours and 2.06% over seven days. The 24-hour range ran from a high of $80,781 to a low of $75,230, so the whole post-midterm gain has now been given back. Volume over the period was about $44 billion.

Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin hit a seven-week low as selling hit at the Wall Street open. Chart: BTC/USD on TradingView.

Ether and the majors

Ether fell harder than Bitcoin, down 7.59% to $2,231.29, after a 24-hour low of $2,208.54. On a seven-day basis it is almost flat. Solana stands out as the weakest major over the week.

BNB was the most resilient of the group, losing 3.24% on the day.

Breadth and sentiment

Total crypto market capitalisation fell 7.41% in 24 hours to $2.576 trillion, per CoinGecko. Bitcoin dominance stood at 59.2% and Ether dominance at 10.6%.

The Fear & Greed Index has spent most of the past eight days in Fear: 30 on October 30 and 31, then 34, 37, 26 and 34, before the brief jump to 50 on November 5. Today's 28 puts it back near the lows seen after the exchange hacks earlier in the week.

What drove the move

Stocks and the AI trade. CoinDesk reports that a collapsing AI trade dragged stocks sharply lower and reversed the post-election rally. It adds that crypto held up relatively better despite a $1 billion liquidation wave. Decrypt reports that the S&P 500 sank 3.8% on Thursday, putting emergency trading halts in focus.

Security worries persist. Decrypt reports that fresh forensic analysis traces $48.6 million across 11 blockchains from the Mercado Bitcoin breach, with customer deposit addresses drained hours after the Brazilian exchange said it had stopped the attack. According to Cointelegraph, US regulators at the Fed and OCC reportedly contacted banks after last week's $6.3 billion Binance hack. Cointelegraph also reports that Binance and Deribit revoked SignalPlus API keys after a fake Teams invite attack that caused losses of less than $82,000. Separately, Asian exchanges are tightening security on fears of AI-assisted hacks, Cointelegraph says.

Miners pivot. Cointelegraph reports that Core Scientific plans to quit Bitcoin mining by year-end, with mining now just 7.5% of quarterly revenue. American Bitcoin posted $126 million in quarterly net income, largely from gains on its Bitcoin holdings, despite shrinking margins, according to Cointelegraph.

What to watch next

• US macro. Our sister site notes the dollar steadied on strong jobless claims ahead of payrolls, a key test for risk assets after the equity sell-off.
• Congress in January. Cointelegraph reports that crypto ally French Hill will lose his chair of the House Financial Services Committee when Democrats take control in January.
• Exchange resilience. Gate's CEO told CoinDesk an independent audit is underway of its cold-storage coverage of customer balances.
• Core Scientific's exit from mining, due by year-end.

CryptoClick Desk