Bitcoin slides toward $75K as Nasdaq's AI rout triggers $1B in crypto liquidations

Bitcoin fell more than 6% to about $75,400 on November 6 after the Nasdaq dropped 5.5% on an AI-stock sell-off, erasing a brief post-midterm bounce above $80,000. Liquidations topped $1 billion, ETH lost 8%, and the Fear & Greed index sank to 28.

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Elena Varga · Crypto Markets Journalist

Published November 6, 2026 · 5 min read

Bitcoin’s post-election bounce lasted barely a day. On November 6, 2026, the largest cryptocurrency fell more than 6% toward $75,000, giving back a brief recovery above $80,000 as a brutal session for US technology stocks spilled into crypto. According to crypto.news, BTC was changing hands at roughly $75,388 early on Friday, down 6.3% over 24 hours and close to a seven-week low.

What set it off

The trigger was Wall Street, not crypto. On Thursday, November 5, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.5%, the S&P 500 lost 4.3% and the Dow fell 3.4%, per the same report. Semiconductors took the worst of it: the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slid about 12% and Nvidia shed more than 9%. Crypto-linked equities followed — Coinbase and Strategy both fell around 10%, and several bitcoin miners dropped further.

The selling came right after the Democratic Party won both chambers of Congress in the November 3 midterms. Analysts quoted by crypto.news tied the rout to fears that political opposition could slow AI data-centre construction, on top of existing doubts about returns on AI infrastructure spending. Carlos Guzman of GSR said the midterms appeared to have set off the move, while K33’s Vetle Lunde described Bitcoin’s drop as a large, correlated move with the Nasdaq rather than a crypto-specific event.

Leverage flushed out

The damage in derivatives was heavy. CoinGlass data cited by crypto.news showed roughly $1.08 billion in liquidations across crypto in the 24 hours to November 5, of which about $954 million were long positions. Bitcoin accounted for roughly $281 million of that total and Ethereum for about $175 million. Open interest in BTC futures fell below $26 billion from $28 billion — the lowest level since mid-September.

Ether fared worse than Bitcoin. A separate crypto.news report put ETH near $2,220 on November 6, down about 8.3%, with more than $210 million in ETH liquidations, $179 million of them longs. Sentiment flipped in a single day: the Crypto Fear & Greed Index read 28 (“Fear”) on November 6, down from 50 a day earlier and from 71 a month ago.

ETF flows are not helping

Spot ETFs, which carried Bitcoin for much of 2026, have turned into a drag. Citing Bloomberg, crypto.news reported that about $1 billion left US spot Bitcoin ETFs in the days after the October 29 Binance hack through Wednesday, with BlackRock’s IBIT accounting for roughly $900 million of that. Flows briefly turned positive on November 4 (+$74.6 million), and November 5 was mixed: Fidelity’s FBTC pulled in $236.7 million while IBIT saw $201.2 million leave.

Ethereum products have bled for longer. SoSoValue figures cited in the ETH report show outflows of $139.7 million on November 2 and $85.3 million on November 3, a $53 million inflow on November 4, then nearly $100 million out again on November 5. If you want to understand why these vehicles move price the way they do, our explainer on how spot Bitcoin ETFs work covers the creation and redemption mechanics behind the flow numbers.

Levels traders are watching

On-chain positioning adds to the fragility. Glassnode data referenced by crypto.news shows that most short-term holder supply — coins bought within the past 155 days — is now sitting at an unrealised loss, where a month ago almost all of it was in profit. That is the kind of backdrop in which dips get sold rather than bought.

On the technical side, Kitco’s Paul Spirgel had flagged $75,001 as a key Fibonacci retracement level, with the 200-day moving average near $73,188 and the 30-day average around $81,319. Wintermute’s Jasper De Maere urged caution about drawing long-term conclusions from a macro-driven flush, keeping a “glass half full” medium-term view but naming $73,000 and $68,000 as downside targets if $75,000 fails. On the upside, a sustained move back above $80,000 is what the analysts cited want to see before calling the correction over.

Zooming out, CoinGabbar, using CoinGecko data as of 04:00 UTC on November 6, put the total crypto market cap at $2.65 trillion, down 4.9% on the day, with Bitcoin dominance at 57.4%. For a primer on how spot, derivatives and ETF flows interact to produce days like this, see understanding crypto market structure.

The bottom line

This was a risk-off day borrowed from equities: an AI-stock rout on the Nasdaq, a leverage wipe-out of about $1 billion, and ETF flows that have stopped providing a floor. Bitcoin’s immediate test is whether $75,000 holds; below it, the analysts cited point to the $73,000 area and the 200-day average. Nothing in the data suggests a crypto-specific failure — but with short-term holders under water and sentiment at “Fear”, the market is more fragile than it was a week ago.

News summary based on the reporting cited above, current as of the morning of November 6, 2026. Prices and flow figures are approximate and vary by data provider and time of capture. For general information only; not financial advice.