Bitcoin price climbed to $80,099 by Wednesday afternoon, rebounding from an election-night low of $75,600 as a short squeeze, equity rally, and oil decline followed the Democratic sweep of Congress.

The price swing represented a 7.3% move from bottom to top within 12 hours. Trading volume reached $39.6 billion over the prior 24 hours, while Bitcoin market capitalization stood at $1.61 trillion.

Liquidation Cascade

The rebound triggered $950 million in leveraged crypto position liquidations over 24 hours, with $560 million in short positions closed. Bitcoin-specific shorts accounted for $403 million of those liquidations, representing 76% of all Bitcoin liquidations. In a single hour Wednesday morning, $215 million in Bitcoin shorts were liquidated.

Ki Young Ju, CryptoQuant CEO, and James Butterfill, CoinShares head of research, attributed the move partly to technical factors. Glassnode framed the price action as a retest of levels broken above in August. The on-chain analysis firm cited a True Market Mean of $77,700 and a short-term holder cost basis of $75,700.

Election Outcome and Market Reaction

Election results announced around 10 p.m. ET on November 3 showed a Democratic sweep of Congress. The Democratic victory appeared to shift market expectations. TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg wrote that the sweep makes a crypto-backed CLARITY Act “impossible” and that committees overseeing crypto pass to Democrats in January.

James Butterfill stated the Democratic sweep was largely priced into bitcoin before the vote, suggesting the market had already positioned for that outcome.

Broader Market Moves

Equities rallied alongside Bitcoin. The Dow Jones rose 1,500 points, a 3% gain. The S&P 500 climbed 1.7%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.8%.

Oil prices fell 9%, with Brent crude settling at $93.91 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $87.59. Vice President JD Vance attributed Republican election losses to the Iran war, a statement that appeared to influence crude sentiment. Crude oil above $100 per barrel had kept inflation elevated and the Federal Reserve leaning toward a December rate hike.

The U.S. dollar index declined 0.55% to 101.32.

ETF Outflows Persist

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced three straight sessions of outflows. On Tuesday, $115.6 million in outflows occurred, with BlackRock’s IBIT fund accounting for $95 million. The three-day outflow total reached $1.16 billion.

Bitcoin price remained 36% below its all-time high of $126,080. At the time of writing, Bitcoin traded at $80,200.

Ram Ahluwalia, Lumida CEO, described the election outcome as “a one and done washout, and that resets where asset prices are,” in a podcast interview.