Nasdaq Futures Fall 2.3 Percent on Election Night as Stock Futures Slide

Updated 08:29 UTC: Bitcoin and futures recover most of the slide

Markets took back most of the election night fall in early Wednesday trading. Bitcoin dropped to $75,618 on Bitstamp, its lowest level since September 16, then climbed as high as $78,039 within three hours, CoinTelegraph reported, using TradingView data. CoinDesk put Bitcoin at $77,918.60 at the time of its report, up 0.5 percent on the day, after a fall to just below $76,000 early on Wednesday.

Stock futures recovered on the same path. Nasdaq futures traded at 28,200 points, down just 0.3 percent on the day after a fall of more than 2 percent earlier, CoinDesk reported. CoinTelegraph put S and P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures both down by about 0.3 percent at the time of its report.

Analysts tied the recovery to the result becoming clear. "Bitcoin dropped initially in response to the Democratic sweep of the midterm elections, but has since recovered as a clear outcome resolves political uncertainty," Dick Lo, founder of TDX Strategies, told CoinDesk. Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, said a daily momentum gauge showed Bitcoin had fallen too far, too fast, and said: "Bitcoin is now oversold and should rally back towards the 82,000 level as its next target."

Demand through funds stayed weak. U.S. listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $515 million in outflows last month and have seen about the same amount leave in the first two trading days of November, CoinDesk reported, citing SoSoValue. Options traders leaned the other way: about $660 million in Bitcoin options blocks changed hands on election day, more than double the day before, with about $420 million of call options bought against about $105 million sold, according to Paradigm figures reported by CoinDesk.

Stock futures fell hard on election night. At 10:11 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, Nasdaq-100 futures had dived 2.3 percent, S&P 500 futures had retreated 1.4 percent and Dow futures had declined 0.9 percent, Investor's Business Daily reported in its live coverage. The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.9 percent, and Bitcoin had fallen below $76,000.

The numbers in this report are futures, not closing values for the cash stock indexes. Futures trade outside regular market hours, and the moves described here took place on Tuesday night as election results arrived.

The slide built through the evening

The fall grew as the night went on. At 9:35 p.m. ET, Investor's Business Daily had Dow futures down 0.7 percent, S&P 500 futures down 1.1 percent and Nasdaq-100 futures down 2.1 percent. By 10:11 p.m. ET, each of the three had fallen further, with the Nasdaq-100 contract carrying the largest drop of the night at 2.3 percent.

Stocktwits published a similar picture at 9:46 p.m. EST. It put Dow futures down 0.76 percent, S&P 500 futures down 1.13 percent and Nasdaq-100 futures down nearly 2 percent. Stocktwits said early vote counts at that point indicated Democrats headed for majority control in the House and Senate. That was its description of the early counts at that hour, not a final result for either chamber.

Barron's reported at 9:45 p.m. that S&P 500 futures were down more than 1 percent and the Nasdaq was off more than 2 percent.

At their lowest levels of the evening

MarketWatch reported that U.S. stock futures sat at their lowest levels of the evening as the clock neared 10 p.m. ET. Its live coverage ran under a headline that put the Nasdaq down 2 percent and said the AI trade took a political hit. MarketWatch cited Democrat Gina Hinojosa's strong position against Gov. Greg Abbott in the Texas governor race in that item.

The pattern across the four reports was the same. The technology heavy Nasdaq-100 futures fell the most, the broad S&P 500 futures fell less, and Dow futures fell the least of the three. The 10-year Treasury yield at 4.9 percent and Bitcoin below $76,000 were reported in the same 10:11 p.m. ET Investor's Business Daily snapshot.

What futures do and do not say

Futures are contracts tied to where an index is expected to trade. A fall in futures on election night shows how traders priced the results as they arrived, position by position, while the regular market was closed. It does not set the opening level of the cash market, and it is not a record of how stocks closed on Tuesday.

The regular session close on Tuesday is a separate story, and nothing in the futures reports changes it. Readers who want the close should read it as the close, and read this report as what it is: an after hours move, measured at the times stated by the outlets that tracked it.

The latest reading in the sources for this report is the 10:11 p.m. ET snapshot: Dow futures down 0.9 percent, S&P 500 futures down 1.4 percent, Nasdaq-100 futures down 2.3 percent, the 10-year yield at 4.9 percent and Bitcoin below $76,000.