Bitcoin Drops Below $77,000 as $870 Million Liquidation Wave Hits Crypto

Bitcoin’s post-election bounce vanished Thursday. The reversal forced leveraged traders out of the market by the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Bitcoin fell below $77,000 after trading above $80,000 during the previous session, while Ethereum, XRP and Solana also moved sharply lower. The selloff spread across nearly the entire large-cap crypto market.

Decrypt reported that Bitcoin traded near $76,500, down almost 5%, as roughly 90% of the top 100 cryptocurrencies turned red. Its market snapshot showed about $428 million in crypto long positions liquidated in a single hour.

The report tied the crypto reversal to a wider technology selloff. It put the Nasdaq down nearly 4% and the S&P 500 lower by about 2.6% in late-morning trading.

Wednesday’s rebound had carried its own leverage warning. About $378 million in Bitcoin short positions were liquidated in one hour as the price pushed above $80,000, meaning forced trades helped drive both sessions.

A broader four-hour snapshot captured even more damage. Watcher.Guru reported more than $870 million in leveraged crypto positions liquidated while Bitcoin was down 5.85%, Ethereum 7.45%, XRP 4.95% and Solana 6.20%.

JUST IN: Crypto is crashing $BTC falls 5.85%$ETH falls 7.45% $XRP falls 4.95% $SOL falls 6.20%

Over $870,000,000 in leveraged crypto positions have been liquidated in the past 4 hours. pic.twitter.com/NhkKlpHxs7

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) November 5, 2026

The difference between those figures is timing and scope. The $428 million figure covered long positions liquidated during an especially violent one-hour window.

The $870 million figure covered leveraged positions across four hours.

Both point to the same market mechanism: falling prices forced exchanges to close underfunded bullish positions, adding more selling to an already weak tape.

In other words, leverage amplified the market in both directions. Shorts were squeezed on the way up, then longs were flushed when the rebound failed.

The sudden shift was visible across stocks and crypto:

Stocks & crypto yesterday vs today pic.twitter.com/WjhTZbAbCv

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) November 5, 2026

Bitcoin’s immediate technical question is whether buyers can defend the mid-$75,000 area and reclaim $80,000. Until that happens, the failed breakout leaves the market vulnerable to another round of liquidation-driven volatility.

Long-term holders can look past one sharp session. Short-term traders cannot ignore how completely borrowed money dictated the move.

The lesson from the last two sessions is blunt: leverage made Wednesday’s rally look stronger, and it made Thursday’s reversal much faster.

Join the conversation!

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.