Bitcoin Slides Under $75K as Midterm Sweep and Binance Fallout Bite

Bitcoin slipped below $75,000 and Ethereum traded near $2,100 in late Sunday trading, the lowest levels for both since August. Bitcoin was at $74,584, down 1.4% over 24 hours and 4.9% on the week. Ethereum got hit harder, dropping 4.4%, now at $2,137, with a 7.4% weekly decline. Volume stayed heavy: roughly $21 billion for Bitcoin and $10.5 billion for Ethereum.

The political trigger came from last week's US midterms, where Democrats won both chambers of Congress. Traders read that as a path toward tougher crypto rules and slower movement on the market structure legislation the industry has been chasing. Crypto companies spent more than $300 million backing friendly candidates across the current and previous cycles. Democrats have floated expanding SEC oversight and stronger investor protections, complicating the lighter-touch approach of President Donald Trump's administration, which created a strategic Bitcoin reserve and widened access to crypto financial products.

The market is still absorbing the October 29 breach at Binance, where around $6.34 billion in crypto was stolen — one of the largest financial thefts on record. The FBI pinned the attack on North Korean-linked hackers. Binance said it would cover customer losses and reopened withdrawals after a temporary pause; a net $4.72 billion then walked out the door, about 2.8% of assets held on the platform. Santiment tracked roughly 28,316 BTC leaving Binance-linked wallets through November 5 and found sentiment souring to just 0.37 positive comments for every negative one.

Institutions are pulling back too. US-listed spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs posted $530.1 million in combined net outflows on November 5 — $430.2 million from Bitcoin funds and $99.9 million from Ethereum products. Andreja Cobeljic, head of derivatives trading at AMINA Bank, points to ETF flows and corporate Bitcoin buying as key reads on institutional demand. Ethereum's November 6 slide near $2,200 triggered about $210 million in liquidations, $179 million of it from leveraged longs.

Macro is adding pressure. US tech stocks, especially AI names, sold off on worries about stretched valuations and returns on infrastructure spending, and stronger-than-expected employment data pushed market pricing for a December Fed rate hike to near 80%. The dollar firmed as investors waited on inflation figures. Asian equities and US stock futures clawed back some ground Monday. Bitcoin and Ethereum did not.