Bitcoin retakes $80,000 and Ether jumps 6.5%, while Trump-linked tokens fall 18%

Bitcoin traded near $80,190 at about 8:20 PM ET on Wednesday, up 4.2% over 24 hours, according to Coinbase Exchange. Ether is at $2,407, up 6.5%. Early this morning Bitcoin was changing hands at $78,249, and on election night it briefly fell to $75,601, so the market has recovered the whole dip and a little more since Democrats won control of Congress.

The numbers

Coinbase Exchange, about 8:20 PM ET on November 4. The 24-hour change compares the latest trade with the open of the 24-hour window.

Sentiment has flipped from fear to neutral

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index from alternative.me reads 50, "Neutral", on its latest daily update, against 34, "Fear", the day before. Cointelegraph put Monday's reading at 26. That is a 24-point swing in two days, and it came with no change in the underlying picture for crypto rules in Washington. It is a mood gauge built from volatility, volume and social data, so it tends to follow price rather than lead it.

Trump-linked tokens went the other way

While the majors rose, tokens associated with President Trump fell. On Coinbase, the official TRUMP memecoin is at $1.24, down 18.0% in 24 hours from $1.51, with a low of $1.20. World Liberty Financial's WLFI token is at $0.0474, down 2.3% on Coinbase. Cointelegraph reported that TRUMP and WLFI were the two biggest losers among the top 100 assets, citing CoinMarketCap figures of 17% and more than 7%; the WLFI gap against our Coinbase number reflects different venues and measurement windows. Cointelegraph also reported that its tracked political-memecoin sector lost more than 16% of its market value on the day, with trading volume up 123%.

The reasoning offered is that a Democratic Congress means more scrutiny of the Trump family's crypto businesses. Benjamin Sarquis Peillard of Cap told Cointelegraph that tokens tied to political expectations "can be more sensitive to shifts in expectations around Washington." That is one analyst's explanation, not a verified cause. What the prices show is a split: assets driven by liquidity and macro conditions recovered, while assets driven by a political association did not.

What this does not settle

US spot Bitcoin ETFs have lost $1.16 billion over three sessions through Tuesday, per SoSoValue figures reported by Cointelegraph, although the daily pace slowed from $643 million on Friday to $116 million on Tuesday. Wednesday's flow figures are not out yet, so tonight's rally has not been tested against ETF demand. The CLARITY Act, the market-structure bill, also remains stalled after it failed to reach 60 votes in the Senate earlier this year, according to Cointelegraph, and the new Congress does not take office until January.

The rebound should also be kept in scale. Bitcoin is still about 7% below its September 21 peak on our chart. A four-point move in a day is within the range of recent sessions: the 24-hour spread between low and high on Coinbase was $5,530, or 7.3% of the low. For context on how Bitcoin has behaved after past elections, see our midterm history and this morning's crypto prices report. Live quotes are on our crypto prices page.

Sources: Coinbase Exchange API (prices, stats); alternative.me (Fear & Greed Index); Cointelegraph (ETF flows, Trump-linked tokens, CLARITY Act status); CoinDesk (headlines only, its pages were blocked to our fetcher). Information, not investment advice.