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News · Nov 5, 2026 · 4 min read

Bitcoin today: Democrats sweep Congress, bitcoin rebounds from under $76,000 to above $80,000

Democrats won both chambers of Congress and bitcoin dipped under $76,000 before closing the day at $77,345 and reaching $80,309 on Thursday. Bernstein cut price targets on seven listed miners by 35% to 54% over Texas data-centre risk, and bitcoin funds have lost $515 million in two trading days.

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Democrats won both chambers and bitcoin fell under $76,000, then recovered the same morning

Democrats won control of the House and the Senate in Tuesday's midterm elections, and the new majorities take office on 3 January, CoinDesk reported. Bitcoin fell just below $76,000 early on Wednesday as the results came in, then rebounded above $78,000 in what CoinDesk called a V-shaped recovery. Cointelegraph described the low as a seven-week low.

Our daily series has bitcoin closing Wednesday at $77,345 and at $80,309 on Thursday. CoinDesk's Thursday report had it at about $80,484, up 5.7% over 24 hours, with the S&P 500 up 1.6% on Wednesday and Brent crude down more than 8%.

Traders had positioned for a rebound. Paradigm's Nicolas Quatravaux said about $660 million notional of bitcoin options blocks printed on election day, more than double the day before, and about $420 million of that was calls bought. Polymarket had put a Democratic win above 75% for a while, so the result itself was no surprise.

The dip lasted hours. The cost to make a coin did not move.

Chart: Bitcoin's daily close since September. Wednesday's dip under $76,000 and the climb back above $80,000 sit at the right-hand end. Open the chart

Shorts lost $310 million on Wednesday, three times the longs

Our liquidations series has $310.0 million of bitcoin shorts force-closed on 4 November against $97.9 million of longs. The day before, 3 November, was quiet: $21.7 million of shorts and $32.8 million of longs. Futures open interest stood at $32.4 billion at the end of Wednesday, down from $34.1 billion on 3 November.

Chart: Bitcoin futures positions force-closed each day: shorts above the line, longs below. Wednesday's $310 million of shorts is the largest since 21 September. Open the chart

Bitcoin funds have lost $515 million in two trading days

US spot bitcoin ETFs saw $515 million of outflows in October and an equal amount leave in the first two trading days of November, CoinDesk reported, citing SoSoValue. Our ETF flows chart shows $398.6 million out on 2 November and $115.6 million on 3 November.

Lacie Zhang of Bitget Wallet told CoinDesk net ETF inflows need to turn positive for a sustained recovery. The funds held about 1.2947 million bitcoin on 4 November, from 1.2980 million on 28 October.

Bernstein cut price targets on seven listed miners by 35% to 54%

The Texas governor's race went to Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who defeated incumbent Greg Abbott and wants to halt new data-centre approvals until the state adopts rules protecting residents from higher power and water costs. CoinDesk reported that Bernstein responded by cutting its price targets on seven listed miners now building AI data centres, among them IREN from $100 to $55, Riot Platforms from $35 to $18 and CleanSpark from $24 to $11.

Bernstein's Gautam Chhugani said more than half of the power capacity held or planned by the miners-turned-AI-developers it covers is in Texas. The cuts are about the AI hosting plans of those companies, not about the bitcoin they mine.

The Clarity Act looks weaker after the sweep

The market-structure bill failed a procedural vote in September while Republicans held both chambers. CertiK's Stefan Muehlbauer told CoinDesk: "The Clarity Act is likely dead in the water in its current form." Others noted that more than 70 House Democrats had supported it, and a dispute between banks and crypto firms over stablecoin rewards remains unresolved.

Expect hearings and investigations into crypto and the president's crypto dealings once the new Congress sits, according to analysts quoted in the same report. No specific investigation has been announced.

What it means for miners

A petahash earned 0.000426 bitcoin a day on both 4 and 5 November, about $34.2 at Thursday's close. The best machine we stock, the Antminer S23 XP Hyd at 8.9 J/TH on Nigeria's 3.9¢ power, makes a coin for about $19,500 of electricity against a market price near $80,300, a quarter of it.

Politics moved the price for a morning. What a miner controls is the cost of the next coin and whether the last ones are kept. Our cost-to-mine chart and hashprice chart have both series, updated daily.

Sources and further reading

Disclosure

Firsthand Bitcoin sells and hosts mining hardware, including this machine. No manufacturer, distributor or affiliate programme paid for or reviewed this page and we take no commission on the links above. Historical figures are computed from daily bitcoin price and network hashprice, each day valued at its own prices. Nothing here is investment advice.