Bitcoin briefly rallied to a weekly high of $81,000 before slumping to around $76,000, as crypto followed a broad selloff in technology stocks after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress. The reversal came with heavy forced selling: CoinGlass data showed $1.06 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated over 24 hours, with roughly $932 million coming from bullish long positions.
On-chain tracking added to supply concerns. Arkham Intelligence data cited by Lookonchain showed Trump Media & Technology Group moved 4,259 BTC—worth more than $340 million—to Crypto.com, likely in preparation for a sale. The same entity has sold about $545 million in Bitcoin over seven months at an average price below $75,000, despite accumulating 11,542 BTC at an average cost of $118,500. MARA Holdings has also transferred more than $130 million in Bitcoin to platforms including Galaxy Digital and Copper, after moving several 1,000-BTC batches to BitGo the prior week.
The macro backdrop is adding to risk-asset pressure. Reports indicated the US administration and military are finishing preparations for a possible resumption of "major" combat operations in Iran, with Axios saying more assets could be sent to the Middle East. History shows that risk assets, including bitcoin, often fall sharply when military strikes begin.
The stock-market selloff was severe: about $1.3 trillion in technology market value disappeared within 30 minutes of the opening bell. SanDisk fell more than 20%, AMD dropped about 16%, and Nvidia lost more than 8%. Data-center operators Cipher Digital and IREN each fell more than 18%, reinforcing the growing overlap between crypto and AI-linked trading.
Bitcoin fell 5.4% to about $76,000, while Ethereum lost more than 7%. Hyperliquid’s HYPE token also fell further than Bitcoin. BNB lost 3.6% and TRON lost 1.2%. On Hyperliquid and other exchanges that list perpetual contracts on US stocks and ETFs, SanDisk-linked contracts were liquidated in larger amounts than Solana, with the leveraged semiconductor ETF SOXL also seeing heavy liquidations. Short sellers mainly lost money on SOXS, the inverse version of that fund.
Political risk is now intensifying around crypto businesses tied to President Donald Trump’s family. Democrats plan to investigate the industry’s financial ties to the Trump family, beginning with World Liberty Financial, its USD1 stablecoin, and the TRUMP memecoin. Representative Robert Garcia, expected to chair the House Oversight Committee, has promised to examine those business dealings, with hearings potentially starting as early as February. Investigators are also expected to focus on World Liberty’s foreign investors; a group linked to the UAE royal family reportedly controls 49% of the holding company behind the venture’s planned trust bank. Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure reported more than $1.4 billion in crypto-related income.
The CLARITY Act—the market-structure bill that would divide crypto oversight between the SEC and the CFTC—now faces a much harder path. Jaret Seiberg, a Washington policy analyst at TD Cowen, wrote that the new environment "may make it impossible to advance a version of Clarity" that the industry could support. Longtime crypto critic Sherrod Brown won back his Senate seat in Ohio, and after January Democrats will hold 54 Senate seats. That is not enough to pass legislation past a filibuster, but committee chairs can slow bills through hearings and subpoenas.
Bitcoin closed results day at $80,417 before giving back its gain as the tech selloff spread. In 2022, Bitcoin fell about 23% after the midterms, though that decline was driven mainly by the FTX collapse rather than the election. With Trump Media potentially needing to repay as much as $1 billion in debt later this month, the market is also watching whether further Bitcoin sales from Trump-linked entities add to supply.
