Bitcoin traded near $78,300 on Wednesday after an overnight fall under $76,000, as Democrats won both chambers of Congress. CoinDesk said the coin slipped just below $76,000 early Wednesday, then recovered to trade nearly 1% higher on the day at $78,300. Cointelegraph, using Bitstamp, put the low at $75,618, last seen on 16 September, before a bounce as high as $78,039. A Reuters report carried by Yahoo Finance had bitcoin roughly flat by 07:15 GMT at $78,070, with ether at $2,292, up about 1%. Investing.com showed bitcoin up 1.8% at $77,919.70 by 01:48 ET, ether up 1.7% at $2,296.59, XRP up 1.5% and solana up 0.8%. Tuesday's tape near $76,500 is in yesterday's election-day note.
Call buyers stepped in once the result was clear
Reuters said bitcoin is down about 41% from a record above $122,000 in October 2025, and that the wider crypto market is worth about $2.61 trillion after losing roughly $300 billion in the past month. CoinGlass data cited by Cointelegraph showed about $288 million of crypto long liquidations over 24 hours. Kelly Ye, head of research at Talos, said the coin moved about 1.7% after polls closed, close to the 1.8% options had priced, and that there was no major leverage flush. The $75,618 low sat near the 50-week moving average at $75,733.
Dick Lo of TDX Strategies told CoinDesk the first drop followed the Democratic sweep, and the recovery followed once the outcome was clear. Nicolas Quatravaux of Paradigm said Polymarket had priced a Democratic win above 75% for some time, so the overnight trade was about uncertainty leaving. He said election-day bitcoin options blocks were about $660 million in notional, more than double the day before, with roughly $420 million of calls bought and about $105 million sold. Nasdaq futures, down more than 2% at one point, were later off about 0.3% at 28,200.
Ether holds near $2,292 as ETF selling slows
Markus Thielen of 10x Research said a momentum gauge showed bitcoin was oversold and could rebound toward $82,000. Vikram Subburaj of Giottus said a hold above $78,000 while ETF redemptions continue would mean other buyers are taking that supply. Lacie Zhang of Bitget Wallet put resistance around $80,000 to $82,000. Tuesday's US spot bitcoin ETFs lost $115.56 million, a third straight outflow day, in today's ETF note. Gold back above $4,030 and Brent near $104 are in the commodities update. The dollar's drop is in the economy briefing. What the result means for the CLARITY Act is in the regulation story. Follow the session on the markets desk.