Bitcoin Falls Below $77,000 as Chip Sell-Off Spreads Ahead of Midterms

Bitcoin traded at $76,726 at 08:00 UTC on Nov. 3, down 1.7% over the previous 24 hours, as Monday’s brief rebound faded.

The renewed selling came alongside another slide in technology shares, with Wall Street’s chip-stock losses spreading into Asia ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. midterm vote.

Zcash Falls Nearly 10% as Bitcoin’s Rebound Fades

Bitcoin had climbed to nearly $78,800 on Coinbase on Monday, but that recovery did not hold. Tuesday’s slide left it below the levels seen during Sunday’s pullback.

Over the 24 hours to 08:00 UTC, Zcash fell 9.8% to $1,138, while Solana lost 2.4% to $91.97. Ethereum traded near $2,255, down 1.2%.

Binance had begun reopening withdrawals on Nov. 1 after reporting $6.3 billion in stolen assets the previous week.

Chip Losses Spread From Wall Street to Seoul

The Nasdaq 100 ended Monday at 27,989.82, down 1.39% for the session. Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 3.37% to 10,328.33, taking its decline over three U.S. trading sessions to about 11.6%.

Monday’s weakness centered on technology, even as a majority of Wall Street stocks rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.41%, while the broader S&P 500 slipped 0.51%.

Tuesday brought another setback in South Korea, where the Kospi closed down 3.59% at 5,648.79. Samsung Electronics lost 4.15% and SK hynix fell 5.03%, extending the pressure on chipmakers. Mirae Asset Securities analyst Kim Seok-hwan said:

“Concerns about profitability of AI investments persist.”

Bitfinex Flagged Weak Buying and Rebuilt Leverage

In a research published Nov. 2, Bitfinex warned that weak spot buying had left Bitcoin’s recovery vulnerable.

Bitcoin traded at a discount on Coinbase compared with offshore markets throughout October, which the analysts interpreted as weak U.S. spot demand.

Bitfinex said futures open interest measured in Bitcoin rose 12.1% over the 19 days to Oct. 31, while Bitcoin’s price fell 5.3%. The analysts also reported that funding rates stayed positive throughout the period, suggesting continued demand for leveraged long positions even as prices declined.

The analysts also put Bitcoin’s 30-day correlation with the Nasdaq 100 at 0.68, indicating that the two markets had been moving closely together during that period.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded another $398.6 million in net outflows in Monday’s completed U.S. session, Farside Investors’ data show, following Friday’s $643.2 million withdrawal.

U.S. Stocks Reopen Before Midterm Results Arrive

Wall Street’s regular session runs from 14:30 to 21:00 UTC on Tuesday, giving technology shares another day of trading before most election-night results arrive.

The U.S. midterms take place on Nov. 3, with congressional results still pending during Tuesday’s Asian session. Election-night counting will overlap with Wednesday morning in Asia, so Bitcoin can react to the returns while U.S. cash stock markets are closed.