US Stocks Lose $3 Trillion in a Day, Dragging Bitcoin Below $76,000

U.S. equities shed roughly $3 trillion in value on Thursday, their worst session since the April 2025 Liberation Day tariffs, and crypto followed: Bitcoin fell 5.4% to $75,871, erasing its post-election rally, while more than $1.1 billion in crypto long positions were liquidated across the day.

The S&P 500 dropped 4.36% and the Nasdaq fell 5.52%, closing in correction territory more than 10% below last month's record. The Dow lost 1,833 points. The damage concentrated in semiconductors: the iShares Semiconductor ETF fell more than 12%, its worst day since March 2020, with Micron down 17.5%, AMD down 17.3%, Marvell down 16.4% and Nvidia down 9.3%. The Magnificent Seven lost roughly $1 trillion in market value, and the VIX touched 28.09 intraday, its highest since March.

The trigger was the same election result that had lifted markets on Wednesday, when Bitcoin climbed back above $80,800 and Trump posted on Truth Social that the market had hit another record high. Several states where Democrats won have active local opposition to data center construction, and traders spent Thursday pricing in slower permitting and tighter oversight of the AI buildout. Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, put it plainly: "We suspect there is going to be some scrutiny on this aggressive AI buildout."

How did crypto absorb the selloff?

Ethereum fell harder than the Nasdaq, dropping 7.6% to $2,239. XRP lost 9.8% and Hyperliquid 4.9%, while the CMC20 index fell 6.29%. Bitcoin ETFs saw $430 million in net outflows on Thursday, with ETH ETFs shedding another $100 million.

Privacy coins bucked the trend. Zcash fell just 0.8% and Monero 2.2%, both remaining up on the week. Over the past year, Zcash has gained 146% and Monero 74% while BTC is down 26% and ETH down 34%.

What's next on the political and technical front?

Representative Robert Garcia, expected to chair the House Oversight Committee under the new Democratic majority, said the committee will investigate the Trump family's business dealings, including its crypto ventures, with World Liberty Financial likely among the first targets and inquiries possibly beginning in February. Separately, Trump-backed American Bitcoin swung to a $126 million third-quarter profit from a $57.2 million loss in Q2, driven by a $197 million gain on its bitcoin holdings.

Zcash's NU7 upgrade will permanently freeze about 12,224 ZEC worth roughly $15.6 million by invalidating the only transaction format that can move coins out of Sprout, the chain's original 2016 privacy pool, and will cut target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds.

Solana Labs launched Leap, a mobile app for around-the-clock trading of tokenized stocks, ETFs, metals, currencies and crypto, built by the Dialect team it acquired this year. China's central bank said it halted Solana's planned Accelerate China 2026 events in Shanghai and other cities and will investigate domestic entities behind the project's advertising in the Lujiazui financial district.

On-chain revenue leaders were Hyperliquid at $2.72 million, Pump.fun at $1.35 million and Papertrade at $822,000. Lighter posted $314,000, its second-highest day since early February. Pump.fun also opened business development roles covering perpetual futures, prediction markets and a trading terminal, an expansion beyond memecoins, and introduced a Diamond mode rewarding higher market-cap calls and longer-term holds.

Rate expectations shifted alongside the carnage, with December hike odds falling to 70.1% from 82.7%. Friday's October jobs report is the next test.