Bitcoin Falls Below $76,000 as Stock Selloff Spreads to Crypto
Bitcoin dropped about 5% and briefly fell below $76,000 on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, giving up Wednesday's gains as a broad stock selloff hit risky assets.
Bitcoin briefly dropped below $76,000 on Thursday, November 5, 2026, down about 5% on the day, as a broad slide in U.S. stocks led investors to sell riskier holdings, Yahoo Finance reported. That wiped out Wednesday's gains: bitcoin had climbed back above $80,000 a day earlier as markets cheered midterm results in which Democrats won both chambers of Congress.
Bitcoin by the numbers
Snapshot | Bitcoin price | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
Published 12:10 a.m. ET, Nov. 5 | $80,390 | +4.01% (24 hours) | FinFly, citing CoinGecko |
1:14 p.m. ET, Nov. 5 | $76,017.40 | −5.31% | Yahoo Finance quote (CoinMarketCap data) |
Crypto trades around the clock, so prices keep moving. The total value of all crypto assets fell 5%, a loss of $370 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data cited by Yahoo Finance.
Crypto stocks fell harder
Shares of companies tied to crypto dropped more than bitcoin itself. Coinbase, Robinhood, Strategy and Bullish each fell 9% or more on Thursday, Yahoo Finance reported. Stocks like these can swing more than the coins because they also carry the risks of the business itself.
Why bitcoin dropped
The main driver was the wider market. The Nasdaq fell more than 5% by late morning as chip stocks plunged, Yahoo Finance said; read our stock market story for the details.
Yahoo Finance also pointed to other pressures on crypto:
- Thin trading and leverage: research firm K33 warned earlier in the week that trading was thin and borrowed bets were rising.
- A recent exchange hack: Yahoo Finance said crypto prices were already shaken by a $6.3 billion hack of Binance the week before.
- Washington: Brian Gardner, chief Washington policy strategist at Stifel, said the Clarity Act, the crypto industry's long-stalled bill, is off the table for the current lame-duck session of Congress, Yahoo Finance reported. Others see a possible upside: Fundstrat's Sean Farrell argued in a Wednesday note cited by Yahoo Finance that the election result could make bitcoin more attractive as a hedge against bigger federal deficits.
For background on Wednesday's move, see our story on bitcoin climbing above $80,000 after the midterms.
What it means for investors
On Thursday bitcoin moved in the same direction as tech stocks, which shows it can behave like other risky assets. If you hold crypto, keep it in a secure place and size it so that a sharp drop won't force you to sell. Our guides on how to buy bitcoin safely and what a crypto wallet is explain the basics, and you can follow live prices on our crypto page.
This article is for information only and is not investment advice.
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This article is for information only and is not investment advice. Do your own research before buying or selling any asset.