Bitcoin slips below $77,000 as midterm results and ETF outflows rattle crypto markets
Bitcoin fell below $77,000 on Wednesday as early US midterm results pointed to Democratic gains in Congress, adding political uncertainty to a crypto market already weakened by heavy ETF outflows and the fallout from a major exchange security breach.
Bitcoin has slipped below $77,000 as results from the United States midterm elections unsettled digital-asset markets that were already under strain. The world's largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 1.6 percent in Asian trading on Wednesday and changed hands around $76,600 to $76,900, reversing part of the recovery it had made earlier in the week.
The figures in this report were checked at about 09:18 PKT on Wednesday 04 November 2026. At that point Bitcoin was trading just under the $77,000 level it had reclaimed on Tuesday, Ethereum was changing hands near $2,290 after recovering from earlier weakness, and traders described a market moving on headlines rather than on any change in the underlying technology or adoption story.
The slide did not start on election night. On Tuesday morning in Asia, Bitcoin had already fallen about 2 percent to just under $77,000, according to CoinDesk data, as a deepening sell-off in American chipmaker stocks dragged down risk assets. A gauge of US semiconductor shares extended a three-day rout to about 12 percent, and the Nasdaq 100 stood roughly 10 percent below its peak, a backdrop that has repeatedly pulled crypto lower in recent weeks.
Institutional money has been leaving at the same time. More than $1 billion flowed out of US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds on Friday and Monday alone, and combined Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF outflows over two trading days were put at roughly $1.3 billion. Outflows of that size remove one of the market's most reliable sources of buying and leave prices more exposed to each new piece of political or economic news.
Confidence was also fragile for a crypto-specific reason. The market is still absorbing the fallout from a reported security breach at the Binance exchange put at about $6.3 billion, which triggered substantial withdrawals and renewed questions about the safety of keeping assets on large trading platforms. Bitcoin is down roughly 6 percent from its high last Thursday, before the breach became public.
The election itself matters to crypto because of legislation. Industry groups spent more than $200 million on the midterms, and the market-structure bill known as the CLARITY Act — which passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate — faces an uncertain future if control of Congress changes. Analysts quoted in market coverage warned that a Democratic sweep could delay industry-backed legislation and bring tougher scrutiny of digital-asset firms.
Not every large investor is treating the politics as decisive. Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock's head of digital assets, said the firm's crypto strategy is unlikely to change regardless of the midterm results, and Rachael Lucas, an analyst at BTC Markets, said options markets show investors hedging the positions they already hold while expecting any election-driven volatility to be short-lived.
The longer trend, however, is harder to ignore. CoinDesk noted that Bitcoin is on course for a fifth consecutive weekly decline, which would be its joint third-longest weekly losing streak on record, after falling from around $87,000 in early October to the $76,000 area. The one consolation for holders is that the price remains above its 200-day average of roughly $73,169 — in the last three midterm cycles, by contrast, Bitcoin went into election day below that average by wide margins.
Technical traders are watching a narrow band of levels. Market coverage on Wednesday put immediate support near $75,545, close to Bitcoin's 200-day exponential moving average around $76,500, and warned that a sustained break below could open the way to deeper losses, while a recovery back above $77,600 to $78,000 would ease the immediate pressure. With the dollar index at a 30-day low near 101.3, some analysts had expected Bitcoin to benefit from dollar weakness; so far, it has not.
What may happen next depends on events outside crypto as much as inside it. Final congressional results, Friday's US jobs report and the Federal Reserve's next rate decision in December are all capable of moving the market in either direction, and traders say volumes are likely to stay jumpy until the political picture is complete. None of those outcomes is certain, and prices could recover quickly if the uncertainty clears — or extend a five-week slide if it does not.
This post is market news information only, not financial advice.
More in Crypto & Markets
Photo: A person holding a Bitcoin coin (file image)
Crypto & MarketsBinance customers pull $4.72 billion after record hack as FBI blames North Korean hackers
Binance customers withdrew a net $4.72 billion after the exchange reopened following last week’s $6 billion hack, the largest in crypto history, as US investigators blamed North Korea’s TraderTraitor group for the theft.
Photo: A Bitcoin coin (file image)
Crypto & MarketsBitcoin rebounds above $78,000 after midterm dip as DeFi tokens lead the recovery
Bitcoin recovered from below $76,000 to trade above $78,000 on 4 November 2026 after US midterm results eased uncertainty, with DeFi tokens leading gains and ether up about 2 per cent.
Photo: A cryptocurrency transaction on a hardware wallet (file image)
Crypto & MarketsBinance reveals how its $6.3bn hack unfolded: a fake coding tool, a fake job interview and its own AI system
Binance has published its first account of the record $6.34bn theft from 29 October, describing a months-long campaign that began with a fake developer tool in June, a staged job interview in September, and the misuse of its own internal AI tools to reach its wallets.