From CryptoPotato · By Jordan Lyanchev
Bitcoin’s sudden price surge on Wednesday has reversed into a similarly painful decline to under $77,000 just minutes after Wall Street’s trading hours commenced.
The altcoins have followed suit as they typically do, and the total value of wrecked positions has skyrocketed to almost $500 million in a single hour.
BTC, Crypto Tank
What a time to be an investor. The past 24-36 hours have been extremely volatile for all financial markets, and crypto is no exception. As the US midterms concluded and the Democrats secured a decisive win, BTC slumped to a seven-week low of $75,600 on Wednesday morning. By that afternoon, the cryptocurrency had erased the losses before it went on a wild run to $81,000, leaving $380 million in shorts wrecked.
A quick rejection followed at $81,000, but BTC still managed to remain above $80,000. That is, until an hour ago, when the bears took control of the market again. In just minutes, the leading cryptocurrency plunged by several grand and dumped below $77,000 and toward $76,000.
BTCUSD November 5. Source: TradingView
The calamity has taken the altcoins south as well. ETH is currently down by 7% on a 24-hour scale, plummeting below $2,300 after it neared $2,500 yesterday. XRP is down by over 5% to $1.25, HYPE has nosedived by 10%, DOGE by 6.5%, and SOL by 6%.
As expected, such massive market turbulence has harmed over-leveraged traders (again). Data from CoinGlass showed that the liquidations in the past hour alone totaled over $560 million, with $530 million coming from longs. More than 165,000 traders have been wrecked within the past day, while the single-largest liquidated order took place on Hyperliquid and was worth $6.62 million.
Liquidation Data on CoinGlass
Wall Street Tumbles, Too
The crypto crash is not an isolated case, as Wall Street leads the pack. The Kobeissi Letter just reported that the S&P 500 alone has erased $2.2 trillion over the past hour. Just for reference, the cryptocurrency market’s entire capitalization is at $2.6 trillion.
Moreover, the analysts added that today’s calamity is now “double the size of yesterday’s post-election rally.” Separately, they warned that the Nasdaq 100 is just 6% away from officially entering a bear market. The index has plunged by over 4.4% since opening an hour ago, going from over 28,000 to 27,180. It’s down by 13% since its peak a month ago.
BREAKING: The S&P 500 has now erased -$2.2 trillion over the last 55 minutes.
Today’s decline is now double the size of yesterday’s post-election rally.
The Nasdaq 100 is ~6% away from a bear market. https://t.co/CYnc4kc5yK
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) November 5, 2026