Bitcoin's
BTC
$75,962.45
post-midterm bounce is fading. The cryptocurrency is down about 5.2% over the past 24 hours, now trading around $76,100.
The broader CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index is down 6.17% over the same period, as pressure from the AI trade weighed on prices.
The Nasdaq fell 5.5% on Thursday, its worst session since April 2025, and the selling carried into Asia, where South Korea's Kospi dropped as much as 8.8%, triggering a 20-minute trading halt.
With Democrats now controlling both chambers of Congress, investors worry that stronger opposition to data-center construction could slow the AI buildout. That weighs on bitcoin miners, many of which have pivoted to AI computing.
Leverage deepened the decline with more than $1.27 billion in crypto derivatives positions being liquidated over the past 24 hours. More than $1.1 billion of that were bullish bets.
Carlos Guzman, vice president of research at GSR, described the move as "a pullback in risk appetite amplified by leverage.
Institutional demand isn't filling the gap, with spot bitcoin ETFs recording $430.2 million in net outflows on Thursday. Bitfinex analysts had warned earlier this week that "sustaining this bounce requires actual spot demand.