Why Is Crypto Down Today? The 5 Reasons Behind the November 3 Sell-Off

$Bitcoin is trading around $76,600 this morning, down roughly 2% in 24 hours and still well below the $80,000 level it lost last week. Ethereum hovers near $2,250, Solana has slipped under $95 and NEAR is down double digits on the day. Total liquidations over the past 24 hours sit in the hundreds of millions again. You can track the live numbers on our crypto prices page and the market-wide metrics on our charts page.

So why is crypto down today? Not one reason, but five stacked on top of each other.

Why Is Crypto Down Today? 

Reason 1: The Binance Hack Is Still Being Digested

Last Thursday's exploit, now the largest crypto hack ever in dollar terms at roughly $6 billion, knocked Bitcoin from $78,700 to the mid-$76,000s overnight. Binance has since reopened selected withdrawals, but confidence does not return in 48 hours. Every unexplained outflow from an exchange wallet is now read as a possible second shoe dropping. That is why the BTCPay Server security scare this morning hit sentiment harder than it normally would.

After the Binance exploit, where you keep your coins matters more than ever. Our MiCA-regulated exchange comparison shows which platforms are licensed in the EU, how they protect client funds and what you pay in fees.

Reason 2: A Hawkish Fed Hold

The Federal Reserve kept rates at 3.75% to 4.00% on October 28, with two members voting for a hike. Markets had priced in a cut by year-end. That expectation is gone, and risk assets have been repricing ever since. Crypto, as the most liquid risk asset trading 24/7, is where that repricing shows up first.

Reason 3: Tech Stocks Are Dragging Crypto Down

Bitcoin still trades like a high-beta Nasdaq stock. The selldown in chip and AI names over the past week has pulled crypto along with it. Until tech stabilises, BTC bounces will likely be sold.

Reason 4: Midterms Tomorrow

The US midterm elections on November 4 are the macro event of the week. Nobody wants to carry leverage into an uncertain outcome, so positions are being closed, not opened. We broke down the five possible scenarios for Bitcoin in a separate piece yesterday.

Reason 5: Liquidations Turn a Dip Into a Crash

Each leg down triggers forced selling of leveraged longs, which pushes prices lower, which triggers more liquidations. Over $600 million was wiped out in a single hour during the Binance night, and the market has not fully deleveraged yet.

Is Crypto Going to Recover? The Levels That Matter

• $74,000: the downside target from the triple top on the daily chart
• $73,200: the 200-day moving average, the last major support of this cycle
• $80,000: reclaiming this would invalidate the bearish setup
• $83,000: a weekly close above here would end the downtrend

Our take: the sell-off is driven by news and positioning, not by a broken thesis. The hack is contained, the Fed pause is priced, and the midterms resolve in 48 hours. If the 200-day line holds, this looks like a flush, not a trend change. If it breaks, the $70,000 area is next. Keep leverage low until then.