Bitcoin’s post-midterm bounce is fading as an AI-led selloff hits crypto and more than $1.2 billion in leveraged positions are liquidated. Plus: a blowout jobs report, Hyperliquid Strategies seeks U.S. approval, and World Liberty plans a token buyback.
Friday, November 6, 2026
Bitcoin’s post-midterm bounce is fading. Earlier this morning the cryptocurrency was down about 5.2% over 24 hours, trading around $76,100, and the broader CoinDesk 20 index was down 6.17% as pressure from the AI trade weighed on prices. The Nasdaq fell 5.5% on Thursday, its worst session since April 2025, and the selling carried into Asia, where South Korea’s Kospi dropped as much as 8.8%, triggering a 20-minute trading halt. With Democrats now controlling both chambers of Congress, investors worry that stronger opposition to data-center construction could slow the AI buildout, which weighs on bitcoin miners, many of which have pivoted to AI computing. Leverage deepened the decline, with more than $1.27 billion in crypto derivatives positions liquidated over the past 24 hours, more than $1.1 billion of them bullish bets, and institutional demand isn’t filling the gap, with spot bitcoin ETFs recording $430.2 million in net outflows on Thursday. Attention then turned to the October jobs report, which showed 165,000 new jobs against the 59,000 to 65,000 economists expected, a strong number that puts a December Fed hike, which markets were pricing at roughly 70%, back in play. Wintermute OTC trader Jasper De Maere sees $73,000 and $68,000 as potential downside targets and says bitcoin would need to reclaim and hold $80,000 to signal renewed strength. Stay alert.
U.S. added 165,000 jobs in October, blowing past 65,000 estimate
The U.S. labor market bounced back in a big way in October after a soft showing in September. The government’s Nonfarm Payrolls Report showed 165,000 jobs added, far past estimates of 65,000, and September’s originally reported gain of 29,000 was revised higher to 60,000. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, versus forecasts for 4.2% and September’s 4.2%, and average hourly earnings rose 0.4% on the month, ahead of the 0.3% forecast, and 3.1% from a year earlier, versus 2.9% expected. Bitcoin was down a hair after the news, trading around $75,800, Nasdaq 100 futures held a 1.5% gain, and the 10-year Treasury yield rose 6.4 basis points to 4.894%. Because of the stock market rout, traders had been rapidly trimming bets that the Fed would raise rates at its final meeting of the year next month, with the odds falling to about 70% from roughly 95% just weeks ago. CoinDesk notes that the report is likely to have traders betting on a December hike again, but that next week’s CPI and PPI reports, and whether the equity market stabilizes, will likely matter more to the Fed’s decision.
Hyperliquid treasury firm seeking U.S. regulatory nod as a domestic futures platform
Hyperliquid Strategies, a publicly traded company that buys and holds HYPE tokens, is formally seeking to move some trading activity into the U.S. with a pending application to be regulated as a futures commission merchant, according to a Thursday statement released with its quarterly results. The company said setting up the FCM is how it intends to help bring markets deployed on Hyperliquid onshore. The Hyperliquid platform, an overseas giant in trading perpetual futures, remains closed to U.S. customers, and Hyperliquid Strategies is a separate public entity focused on buying, holding and staking the network’s token. It applied in August, through the National Futures Association, for FCM status for a subsidiary, HypeStrat Markets, and the application is still pending, according to NFA records. Subject to approval, the FCM would carry U.S. client accounts for permissioned markets deployed on Hyperliquid under its HIP-3 framework. CoinDesk notes that in August President Donald Trump said his administration was working with the CFTC to bring Hyperliquid into the U.S. in a compliant and legal way, an effort that has run into some legal objections from the U.S. derivatives industry. The company cautioned that there can be no assurance about the timing or outcome of the application.
Trump-backed World Liberty Financial plans token buyback after 66% year-to-date slide
World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture backed by the Trump family, plans to buy back more of its WLFI token after a steep price drop that followed the U.S. midterm elections. WLFI has lost about 10% of its value since Tuesday and more than 66% this year, and CoinDesk reports that the TRUMP memecoin and Trump Media shares also hit record lows. The company said on X that it may fund the purchases with fees earned from the reserves backing its USD1 stablecoin, along with other sources, with the aim of encouraging more active participation in the project’s governance and putting more voting power in the hands of committed long-term holders, and that it intends buybacks to be an ongoing part of its long-term strategy. It is not the first such effort: in April the company disclosed $65.6 million in open-market buybacks over the prior six months. Separately, Tron founder Justin Sun said on Election Day that he had asked a federal court to sanction World Liberty in his lawsuit over roughly 4 billion frozen WLFI tokens.
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Bitcoin fell below $76,000 on Thursday as a rout in AI-linked stocks swept through markets, giving back its post-election rally. The Nasdaq sank nearly 6%, on track for its worst day since April 2025’s tariff rollout, and crypto miners, many now pivoting to AI computing, fell 15%–20%. Analysts at FalconX and GSR said the midterm results revived worries that political opposition could slow data center construction. Coinbase, Circle and BitGo dropped 10%–15% and Strategy lost 9.6%. More than $1 billion in leveraged crypto bets were liquidated, mostly bullish ones, the biggest wipeout since Oct. 28–29. Bitcoin was down roughly 5.5% over 24 hours, while ether, Solana, XRP and Hyperliquid fell 6%–7%. Wintermute’s Jasper De Maere said crypto has held up relatively well and he remains upbeat on the medium term.
The FBI and analysis firms blame TraderTraitor, North Korea’s elite crypto-theft unit, for the $6.3 billion Binance heist, the largest in crypto history. The group sits inside the broader Lazarus network and has also been linked to the $1.5 billion Bybit theft in 2025 and the $308 million DMM Bitcoin hack in 2024. Its playbook relies on people more than code: fake recruiters and job interviews, malware-laced coding tests, then weeks of patient staging before moving funds. The group launders proceeds partly through over-the-counter traders who convert crypto to cash. Pyongyang denies involvement. The Binance theft roughly doubled the more than $6 billion TRM Labs estimated North Korean hackers had stolen since 2017.
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The Justice Department has formed a Super Intelligence Task Force, using the Trump administration’s preferred term for AI, to complement the existing SI Force led by Jay Clayton. Attorney General Todd Blanche said it will help keep the technology from being manipulated by bad actors at home or abroad, including state-sponsored actors, transnational criminal groups and individuals or companies committing fraud. The department also plans to check that businesses using AI maintain strong internal controls. The move comes as the administration’s AI focus grows while its active crypto policy work has waned: the White House office that helped shepherd crypto legislation is vacant.
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