Bitcoin Falls Below $78,000 as Crypto Fear Gauge Drops to 26

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $78,000 in Asian trading Tuesday, Nov. 3, as crypto sentiment entered fear territory amid fallout from a Binance security incident and a concurrent selloff in U.S. technology stocks.

At 11:16 p.m. ET Monday (04:16 UTC Tuesday), Bitcoin traded at $76,817, below $78,000. Ether traded at $2,256, a 0.74% decline. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 26 from 37 on Monday, moving into its fear range.

Lingering fallout from the Binance security incident remained the main pressure on market sentiment, while losses in U.S. technology shares added to risk aversion. At Monday’s close, the Nasdaq index fell 1.07% to 25,164.32, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 3.37% to 10,328.33. The S&P 500 slipped 0.51% to 7,541.40, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.41% to 51,983.98.

Questions about when AI spending will generate returns also weighed on technology stocks. Oracle began a $20 billion financing effort, while Meta was evaluating a large debt offering, adding to concerns about the sector’s financing needs.

U.S. midterm election results and the outlook for AI spending were among near-term market watch points, with voting scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3.