A
cryptocurrency
rally
saw
a
rapid
reversal
during
the
U.S.
afternoon
hours
as
the
final
stretch
of
the
U.S.
election
left
traders
jittery.
Bitcoin
(BTC)
surged
to
$70,500
earlier
during
the
day
from
around
$67,000,
then
shed
2%
in
an
hour
to
briefly
drop
below
$69,000.
It
was
trading
at
$69,000
at
press
time,
still
up
more
than
2%
over
the
past
24
hours..
The
broad-market
CoinDesk
20
Index
booked
3%
gain
during
the
same
period,
led
by
native
tokens
of
Near
(NEAR),
Aptos
(APT)
and
Hedera
(HBAR)
advancing
6%-7%.
:format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/FDAVDOMBXFAGZL6VYGYEG675YI.jpg)
CoinDesk
20
leaders
on
Nov.
5
(CoinDesk)
The
abrupt
selloff
happened
as
Trump
Media
&
Technology
Group
(DJT),
the
company
behind
Truth
Social
social-media
platform
founded
by
Republican
presidential
nominee
Donald
Trump,
plummeted
20%
and
was
briefly
halted
from
trading
Tuesday
afternoon.
There
wasn’t
any
immediately
clear
catalyst
of
the
price
drop,
as
odds
for
Trump
winning
the
election
dipped
only
slightly
to
61%
from
62%
on
blockchain-based
prediction
venue
Polymarket.
Traders
perhaps
took
profits
after
DJT
share
prices
earlier
today
spiked
18%
from
yesterday’s
closing
price,
and
are
still
up
178%
from
the
September
lows.
Zooming
out,
bitcoin
is
still
trading
within
a
narrow
range
below
its
all-time
record
heading
into
the
U.S.
election
night,
which
is
viewed
as
a
key
source
of
uncertainty
for
crypto
prices.
“We
expect
spot
[prices]
to
chop
around
this
range
until
we
get
more
clarity
on
the
election
results
this
week,
where
a
Trump
win
is
likely
to
cause
a
knee-jerk
reaction
higher,
and
vice
versa
if
Kamala
wins,”
digital
asset
hedge
fund
QCP
forecasted
in
a
Monday
market
update.
The
worst
case
scenario
for
risk
assets
including
cryptocurrencies
would
be
“a
delayed
or
contested
election
–
much
like
in
the
2000
election
–
where
the
result
is
unknown
for
weeks,”
said
Bohan
Jiang,
head
of
OTC
options
trading
at
Abra.
“This
would
lead
to
a
sell-off
in
risk
assets
in
the
meantime,
wherein
the
event
volatility
would
roll
to
subsequent
weeks
until
we
get
a
resolution.”