Bitcoin fell below $76,000 on Thursday as a sharp reversal in US technology stocks spread to cryptocurrency markets and triggered heavy losses among leveraged traders. The largest digital asset hit an intraday low of $75,568 and had recovered to $76,830.67 as of press time.
According to CoinGlass data, approximately $1 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated over the previous 24 hours, affecting more than 201,000 traders. Bullish positions accounted for $926.8 million, or nearly 89% of the total, compared with $118.2 million in bearish bets.
Bitcoin accounted for $264.2 million in liquidations, followed by Ethereum at $165.3 million and Solana at $33.5 million. The largest single liquidation was a $10.94 million ETH long position on Binance.
Wall Street selloff deepens
The crypto losses coincided with a steep decline in US equities. The Nasdaq Composite plunged 4.9% and entered correction territory, falling more than 10% below its October record. The S&P 500 declined 3.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 1,100 points.
The Kobeissi Letter estimated that approximately $2.5 trillion had been wiped from US stock market valuations and reported that the Cboe Volatility Index had surged more than 70%. The firm attributed the speed of the collapse to excessive leverage meeting an abrupt change in investor sentiment, rather than a sudden deterioration in corporate fundamentals.
AI spending concerns follow midterms
The selloff followed the Nov. 4 rally, when investors initially welcomed the Democrats' sweeping midterm victories as a potential constraint on President Donald Trump's economic policies. Attention quickly shifted toward the implications for the artificial intelligence industry, whose enormous capital expenditure commitments have helped sustain US equity valuations.
Investors are increasingly concerned that tighter political oversight, rising construction costs, and local opposition to data centers could undermine expected growth in AI infrastructure spending. According to Ballotpedia, 46 of the 47 local data-center-related measures decided across the US in 2026 favored tighter restrictions, although some votes were advisory rather than legally binding.
Nvidia fell below $200 for the first time since August, while the Nasdaq 100 declined approximately 5.5%, putting it on course for its steepest daily loss since April 2025.
Economist Mohamed El-Erian questioned whether the rest of the US economy could maintain its momentum if technology investment slowed, while cautioning against assuming that Democratic control of Congress would necessarily translate into a substantial slowdown in the technology sector. Citrini Research argued that expectations for AI infrastructure spending may have peaked as investors reassess whether projected returns can justify the industry's capital requirements, clarifying that it was identifying a potential peak in spending estimates.
Thursday's simultaneous decline in technology shares and cryptocurrency prices suggests investors are reducing exposure to speculative assets as uncertainty over AI investment returns, financing costs, and future regulation intensifies.
