Bitcoin Falls 2% Below $77,000 as U.S. Chip Stocks Lose 12%
Key Facts
Bitcoin fell 2% to just below $77,000 in Asian morning hours on Tuesday, Nov. 3, giving up Monday’s rebound, according to a CoinDesk report. The decline came as losses in a gauge of U.S. chip companies extended to 12% over three days, and the Nasdaq 100 fell 10% from its peak. That placed the cryptocurrency within a broader wave of pressure on technology-related assets in Asia. Investors were watching the U.S. midterm elections, with voting held Tuesday. The report said the first results were expected to emerge as Asian markets opened on Wednesday.
Bitcoin’s move followed a brief recovery after it fell to around $77,600 late Sunday, according to CoinDesk. But it returned below that level in Tuesday trading, erasing Monday’s gains. In Asian stock markets, South Korea’s technology-heavy Kospi fell more than 3%, while the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index dropped about 1%. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday, the report said. The performance coincided with losses in the U.S. chip gauge, which the report did not identify by name.
The decline extended beyond bitcoin across the Asian cryptocurrency markets covered in the report. ZEC fell the most among the currencies mentioned, losing about 10% to around $1,140 after leading major tokens on Monday. HYPE fell 5% to around $84, while SOL dropped 3% to around $92. BNB lost 2% and fell below $700. The market also recorded a 0.5% decline in the S&P 500 at the time of CoinDesk’s Asian coverage, while optimism that the war in Iran could soon end weighed on oil without lifting market sentiment.
In currency markets, the yuan ended a 13-day winning streak, its longest since 1996, according to CoinDesk. The report attributed the end of the streak to a request by the People’s Bank of China for banks to hold more foreign currency in reserve. The shift showed a parallel move in Asian markets during the same session, alongside declines in stocks and cryptocurrencies. The available text of the report provided no further details on the size of the change in banks’ holdings. These moves remained part of the regional trading backdrop accompanying technology-sector pressure.
But the U.S. market’s close later on Tuesday showed a different course from the morning pressure in Asia. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%, while the Dow Jones fell 197 points, or 0.4%, according to the Associated Press. The two indexes rose despite declines in most S&P 500 constituents. Nvidia led gains with a 2.3% increase and was the strongest driver of the index’s advance, while Broadcom rose 3.1%. Microsoft, Amazon and Meta shares each gained more than 2%, supporting big technology stocks at the end of the session.
Against the backdrop of investor concerns about the cost of the AI boom, the AP said rising prices for memory chips used to build AI data centers are pressuring Apple’s expected margins in the final quarter of the year. The company expected to make less profit on every dollar of revenue in the final three months of the year, the report said. Reuters had previously reported in background coverage that corporate spending on AI is fueling concerns about how quickly returns will emerge, with global capital spending on AI expected to reach $5.5 trillion by 2030 and spending of $900 billion during 2026, according to JPMorgan. A Reuters report published in October said more than $2 trillion in Nasdaq 100 market value was at risk of being erased during the month. An analyst at Edward Jones said the S&P 500 had posted a positive return in every instance during the six months after midterm elections since 1970, according to the AP.
In a parallel economic development released the same day, the September Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed a 104,000 increase in job openings in state and local government, excluding education, and a 158,000 increase in hires in accommodation and food services, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau set Dec. 1, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time for the release of its October report. The first results of the midterm elections were expected to begin emerging as Asian markets opened on Wednesday, Nov. 4. EL7 data recorded bitcoin’s close at $77,453.86 on Nov. 3, then $77,754.01 on Nov. 4. This dates two consecutive daily closes after the Asian morning decline.