Bitcoin chip rout drags BTC back under $77,000
A bitcoin chip rout weighed on digital assets into November 3 as bitcoin fell about 2% to just under $77,000 and a three-day semiconductor selloff near 12% deepened ahead of the U.S. midterms.
Risk assets lost their brief post-hack bounce as semiconductors led equities lower into Election Day. A bitcoin chip rout narrative took hold in Asia on Tuesday after bitcoin slipped about 2% to just under $77,000 while a three-day slide in chipmakers approached 12% and the Nasdaq 100 sat about 10% below its peak.
What happened
CoinDesk reported that bitcoin fell 2% to just under $77,000 in the Asian morning, with Zcash nearly 10% lower near $1,140, Hyperliquid about 5% near $84, Solana about 3% near $92, BNB under $700 and ether just above $2,250. The S&P 500 slipped 0.5%, South Korea's Kospi lost more than 3% and the MSCI Asia Pacific index was almost 1% lower.
Cointelegraph said bitcoin returned below $77,000 after Monday's Wall Street open even as oil plunged, with WTI down more than 7% near $96.50 a barrel after touching $95.15, its lowest since October 15. BTC had failed to hold above roughly $78,500, and analyst Rekt Capital warned that a successful three-day bearish retest opened the door to levels below about $76,000.
The equity backdrop was a classic de-risking tape. CoinDesk tied crypto weakness to the deepening chip gauge decline and a Nasdaq 100 correction from its peak, while Cointelegraph said early stock gains on Iran diplomacy hopes faded ahead of Apple and Palantir earnings and the midterm vote.
Why it matters
Yesterday's bitcoin three-day rebound toward $79,000 has reversed quickly, showing how fragile the post-Binance relief rally was once equity beta reasserted itself.
The bitcoin chip rout link is correlation, not causation, but it matters for positioning: crypto is trading like a high-beta tech sleeve again, so another down day in semiconductors can drag BTC irrespective of exchange-hack headlines.
Macro catalysts stack on Tuesday. Midterms, soft oil after Qatar-Iran diplomacy chatter, and a yuan that CoinDesk said snapped a 13-day winning streak after the PBOC told banks to hold more FX reserves all compete for attention. Our Nasdaq October washout piece already flagged how AI-spending nerves can spill from chips into broader risk.
Oil's failure to lift bitcoin also undercuts the simple inflation-relief trade that helped gold. Traders watching both metals and crypto need separate catalysts, not a single energy print.
Spot levels just under $77,000 also sit close to zones that failed to hold during last week's Binance scare, so dip buyers will want confirmation from U.S. cash equities before treating Asia's print as a durable floor.
What's next
Watch whether $76,000 support cited by Cointelegraph's chart sources holds and whether U.S. session flows reverse the Asia-led slide. CoinDesk's market wrap frames the chip and midterm overlap.
A deeper bitcoin chip rout would keep altcoins such as ZEC and HYPE under pressure if beta stays elevated.
Election clarity after polls close may matter more for risk appetite than any single mining or exchange headline overnight.
This article is for information only and is not investment advice.