On Wednesday, U.S. stock markets experienced a significant uptick following a Democratic triumph in the midterm elections, with the Dow rising by over 1,500 points, or around 3%. This marked its largest increase since April 2025.
Bitcoin (BTC) also took part in the upward trend, gaining 5.7% and reaching about $80,500. However, this moment of euphoria was fleeting.
The sudden downturn on Thursday drew parallels to the market crash incited by President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs back in April 2025.
Related: Democrats’ sweep sends Trump-linked assets reeling
Wall Street shifts as Bitcoin retreats
On November 5, U.S. stock indices suffered losses as investors reassessed their expectations regarding artificial intelligence (AI) expenditures amid potential oversight of data centers under a Congress led by Democrats.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped by 4% into correction territory, while the S&P 500 fell by over 3%, and the Dow fell more than 2% during the day’s trading.
Bitcoin mirrored this trend, dropping by over 5%, reaching around $76,000 and negating its gains from the election.
Stocks connected to the crypto sector also experienced downturns, with Coinbase (COIN) declining by 10.29%, MicroStrategy (MSTR) dropping 10.14%, and Circle (CRCL) falling by 11.80% during midday trading on Thursday.
As per data from TradingView, the overall market capitalization for crypto fell to about $2.53 trillion, reflecting a decrease of $137.6 billion or 5.16% that day.
This selloff also resulted in the forced liquidation of leveraged crypto holdings.
CoinGlass data indicated that approximately $878 million worth of positions were liquidated over four hours, with $798 million pertaining to long positions at the time of reporting.
Semiconductor companies such as AMD and Micron faced substantial declines, both experiencing drops exceeding 12% on the day.
The decline mirrored the market chaos from April, driven by tariffs.
Following Trump’s announcement on April 2, 2025, the S&P 500 saw a 4.8% drop in its immediate trading session, while escalating to a 10.5% loss over two days, which wiped out more than $5 trillion of U.S. market value.
Bitcoin dipped to as low as $74,500, before equities recovered following Trump’s announcement of a 90-day tariff pause on April 9. That day, the S&P 500 surged by 9.5%, marking its strongest rise since 2008.
The decline on Thursday was poised to be the worst for the S&P 500 since the crash in April, as reported by the Associated Press.
The Roundtable 100
For those following our market updates, be sure to check out the Roundtable 100. Updated on Fridays, this ranking highlights the top 100 investable tech stocks, including those in the digital asset space. Explore the latest RTB 100 rankings at roundtable100.com.
Related: Democratic sweep leaves crypto bill weeks to live
This article was originally published by TheStreet on November 5, 2026, within the MARKETS section. You can designate TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.