U.S. election shock hits crypto as ETF outflows reach $1.65B and liquidations top $3B

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ETF outflows and liquidations pressure crypto

U.S. midterms send shockwaves through crypto and technology stocks

The biggest event of the week was the November 3 U.S. midterm election, which delivered a decisive victory for Democrats. According to the Associated Press, the party secured majorities in both chambers of Congress, while Senate victories in traditionally Republican Texas and Kansas were among the biggest surprises. Democrats also won the Texas governor’s race, ending more than three decades of Republican dominance in the state.

Financial markets initially welcomed the election results, but the optimism did not last. Reuters reported that concerns over potentially tighter regulation of the AI industry triggered a broad selloff in technology stocks. The Nasdaq fell around 5.5% on November 5, and the wave of selling quickly spread into cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin and Ethereum are now heading toward a fifth consecutive weekly decline. From their local highs in late September, BTC has fallen roughly 13%, while ETH has corrected by around 20%. The latest selloff once again showed how closely crypto remains tied to sentiment in the U.S. equity market.

Crypto funds lose nearly $1.65B as institutional demand weakens

Institutional pressure increased as well. As per SoSoValue, the outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs amounted to $1.28 billion for the week of November 2-6, the biggest weekly outflows since late June 2026.

The Ethereum ETFs witnessed additional outflows of $365.3 million, which is their sixth consecutive week of outflows. Since the end of September, the total outflows from the ETFs have amounted to approximately $2.02 billion.

Forced selling amplifies the week's most volatile crypto sessions

Forced liquidations of leveraged positions played a major role in the week’s price swings. Based on an approximate calculation from CoinGlass data, total crypto-market liquidations reached around $3.1 billion between November 2 and 6. Of that amount, roughly $2.1 billion came from long positions and about $1 billion from shorts.

The market experienced sharp moves in both directions. During the November 4 recovery, short liquidations helped accelerate the rebound, but conditions reversed quickly on November 5. CoinGlass data showed a separate hourly spike of roughly $500 million in long liquidations, the largest during the period under review.

The pattern highlights how sensitive the market remains to forced position closures. As long as a significant share of speculative exposure remains highly leveraged, sudden price moves can quickly intensify in either direction.

November 10 CPI report puts crypto volatility back in focus

The next big test will come when the U.S. Consumer Price Index for October is published on Tuesday, November 10. The release time of the economic report, according to the official BLS schedule, is 8:30 a.m. ET and may have a significant effect on the Fed's future monetary policies expectations.

An increase in inflation above market estimates may strengthen fears of an extended period of restrictive monetary policy, thus causing another round of sell-off in risky assets. On the contrary, lower-than-expected inflation figures may open space for a rally, though not necessarily a trend reversal.

The link between Wall Street weakness and the crypto selloff was also highlighted earlier by Traders Union. Investor attention is now shifting away from political developments and toward macroeconomic data that could once again reshape sentiment quickly.

With geopolitical uncertainty still elevated and leverage-driven liquidations remaining a major risk, the coming week could prove just as volatile for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

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