Bitcoin Wobbles as S&P 500 Sheds 1.7% and Nasdaq Drops 3.1%

Bitcoin's hard-won recovery above $80,000 is on thin ice. The coin had slipped below $77,000 in recent sessions before clawing its way back above $80,000 on Wednesday, but a fresh breakdown Thursday remained unconfirmed. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 fell roughly 1.7% in Thursday morning trading on November 5, and the Nasdaq Composite sank 3.1%.

The equity slump lands just a day after the S&P 500 climbed 1.6%, a rally that followed Democrats winning control of Congress in the US midterm elections. That post-election bump is now being erased, and crypto's own post-election rebound is being tested alongside it.

Semiconductor and AI infrastructure names caught the worst of the selling as investors rethought the outlook for data center construction and technology spending, according to Reuters. Qualcomm tumbled more than 10% on disappointing smartphone-related earnings, while Nvidia and other tech heavyweights weakened too. The Nasdaq's deepening correction has amplified worries that pricey AI bets could run into financing trouble and construction delays.

Those same jitters are bleeding into Bitcoin miners that have been expanding into artificial intelligence infrastructure. The dynamic matters because crypto tends to get hit when investors pull back from speculative assets generally. Still, the two markets falling at the same time doesn't prove stocks dragged Bitcoin down.

Institutional demand is telling a messier story. US spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $74.6 million in net inflows on November 4, snapping three straight sessions of withdrawals, according to Farside Investors. That came after $398.6 million flowed out on November 2 and another $115.6 million on November 3. Fund-level flows were split: Fidelity's FBTC brought in $236.7 million while BlackRock's IBIT shed $201.2 million, a sign the recent selling pressure hasn't fully cleared. An earlier $643 million ETF withdrawal shows how fast institutional appetite can evaporate when markets get stressed.

For traders, the technical map is straightforward. The $78,000 region is the near-term marker, with $76,000 to $77,000 already tested during the selloff, and $75,000 sitting as the next big psychological floor. Below that, Reuters' November 4 technical analysis flagged roughly $73,188, the 200-day moving average. On the flip side, reclaiming $80,000 would put $81,319 in play, then resistance around $82,000, with a sustained breakout potentially reviving the $85,000 recovery scenario.