Bitcoin's post-election rally above $80,000 looked increasingly fragile on Thursday, Nov. 5, as a broad technology-led selloff on Wall Street pushed the largest cryptocurrency back toward the high-$70,000s and reignited questions about how much speculative capital is left in the market.
By morning trading in New York, the S&P 500 had shed roughly 1.7% and the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 3.1%, unwinding much of the previous session's 1.6% gain on the S&P 500 that followed the Democratic Party's capture of Congress in the midterm elections. Bitcoin, which had traded below $77,000 before bouncing back above $80,000 on Wednesday, was testing that threshold again, though a decisive break lower had not been confirmed.
Semiconductor and artificial-intelligence infrastructure shares bore the brunt of the selling as investors revisited assumptions about data-center construction and technology budgets. Qualcomm tumbled more than 10% after posting weak smartphone-related results, and Nvidia and other large technology names also softened. The deepening Nasdaq correction has sharpened worries that costly AI buildouts could run into financing constraints or construction delays -- anxieties that have spilled over into Bitcoin miners, many of which have been pouring capital into AI infrastructure as a second growth engine.
Analysts were careful to note that simultaneous declines in crypto and equities do not by themselves prove that one market is driving the other. Even so, digital assets have historically drawn selling pressure during stretches when investors pare back exposure to speculative holdings alongside falling stock indices.
ETF Flows Show Institutions Split
The institutional picture was more mixed than the price action suggested. US spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in a net $74.6 million on Nov. 4, according to Farside Investors, ending three straight sessions of redemptions that included $398.6 million on Nov. 2 and $115.6 million on Nov. 3.
Beneath that headline number, fund-level flows diverged sharply. Fidelity's FBTC attracted $236.7 million, while BlackRock's IBIT, run by the world's largest asset manager, recorded $201.2 million in outflows.
Note: Fund-level figures for Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 were not disclosed in the source data.
The split suggests that while some institutional investors are adding exposure, others continue to trim it -- a sign of unresolved uncertainty among large holders. The swings have been violent: an earlier $643 million aggregate ETF withdrawal this week underscored how quickly institutional appetite for Bitcoin can evaporate when financial markets come under stress.
Technical Levels Take Center Stage
Whether buyers can keep Bitcoin from a decisive drop below $80,000 now shapes the near-term outlook. The $78,000 mark is serving as an immediate reference point, with the $76,000-$77,000 band acting as the testing ground during the latest retreat.
Should sellers regain the upper hand, $75,000 stands as the next psychological threshold. Below that, the 200-day moving average -- around $73,188 in technical analysis cited by Reuters -- looms as a longer-term support.
On the upside, a push back above $80,000 would bring $81,319 into view, followed by resistance near $82,000. A clean breakout from there could revive the case for a return to $85,000.
The stakes extend beyond Bitcoin itself. Mining companies that have bet on AI infrastructure are now exposed to the same financing and spending doubts weighing on technology stocks, linking two of the market's most speculative corners. For ETF investors, the divergence between FBTC inflows and IBIT outflows suggests allocation decisions are being made fund by fund rather than as a single bet on the asset class -- a pattern that could keep flows choppy as long as equities remain under pressure.
