Bitcoin recovers $76,000 level as ETFs shed $430 million after tech rout

Bitcoin returned to $76,000 on Friday after falling below that level during Thursday’s U.S. trading session. The decline erased Wednesday’s post-election rebound as investors withdrew money from spot bitcoin ETFs and a selloff in technology stocks hit risk appetite.

The largest cryptocurrency is now down more than 5.3% in the last 24 hours but has managed to recover the $76,000 level. The wider CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index lost 6.28% of its value over the same period.

U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs saw $430.2 million in net outflows Thursday, led by Fidelity’s FBTC at $199.9 million and BlackRock’s IBIT at $105 million, according to SoSoValue data.

Those flows reversed Wednesday’s $74.6 million inflow, bringing net redemptions for the week through Thursday to $869.8 million.

The retreat followed a 5.5% slide in the Nasdaq and a 4.3% drop in the S&P 500 Thursday. FalconX and GSR analysts linked the selloff to concerns that Democrats’ midterm sweep could slow AI data-center construction, adding to doubts about heaving infrastructure spending returns.

Forced selling amplified the decline. In the last 24 hours, $1.26 billion in leveraged cryptocurrency positions were liquidated, $1.12 billion of which were long positions, or bets on higher prices, according to CoinGlass.

The stock-market rout is spilling into crypto as asset managers “liquidate alternative holdings to meet margin calls and deleverage portfolios,” Simon-Peter Massabni, head of business development at broker XS.com, said in emailed comments.

The earlier recovery had already shown signs of fragility. Bitcoin futures open interest remained broadly flat during Wednesday’s rebound, while bitcoin traded at a discount on Coinbase relative to Binance, a sign of subdued U.S. buying demand.