Bitcoin slips below $76,000 as US tech selloff spreads to crypto markets

Bitcoin fell towards $76,000 as a selloff in US technology and artificial-intelligence stocks spread to digital assets, reversing part of the crypto market's post-US election gains. The move shows how quickly risk appetite can change across global markets, with leveraged trading adding to price swings.

Bitcoin traded near $75,984, down 5.88% over 24 hours, while Ether was around $2,234, down 8.10%. The total value of the cryptocurrency market fell 5.02% to $2.55 trillion. The Fear and Greed Index stood at 32, a reading that indicates fear, and the CoinMarketCap 20 Index dropped 5.8%.

In the US, the Nasdaq fell 5.52%, the S&P 500 declined 4.36% and the Dow lost 3.44%. The VIX, a gauge of expected equity-market volatility, surged 69.66% to 28.18. The simultaneous decline in stocks and crypto suggested that investors were reducing exposure across risk assets, rather than reacting to crypto-specific news alone. Crypto has increasingly traded in step with technology shares during risk-off periods, as both are viewed as sensitive to changes in global liquidity and investor confidence.

Concerns about spending on AI infrastructure and the implications of the US election results weighed on technology shares. Crypto was caught in the same retreat. Reports also identified short covering as a contributor to the previous session's rally, suggesting that part of the rebound depended on traders closing bearish positions.

The decline was sharpened by liquidations. Nearly $1.1 billion in crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, affecting about 211,000 traders. In a four-hour window, $818.90 million of the $879.92 million liquidated consisted of long positions, or about 93%. A liquidation happens when an exchange forcibly closes a leveraged position because losses have exceeded the trader's margin. Such forced selling can add to downward pressure and trigger further liquidations.

Exchange-traded fund flows also pointed to weaker demand. Net crypto ETF outflows were $915.1 million over the past week and about $2.49 billion over the past month, against $5.29 billion in net inflows over the last quarter. Outflows from crypto ETFs can indicate that some investors are reducing exposure, though weekly and monthly flows can be volatile.

For retail investors, the key takeaway is that crypto-specific optimism may struggle to sustain a recovery while broader financial markets remain under pressure. The data suggests that the market remains sensitive to global risk appetite, and that leveraged positions can amplify both gains and losses.

The analysis, attributed to Nischal Shetty, founder of WazirX, linked the crypto decline to the broader retreat in risk assets. It did not offer a forecast, but underlined the connection between digital assets and wider market sentiment.