Bitcoin Holds Near $78,000 as Binance Reopens Withdrawals and Traders Await the Midterms

Bitcoin held near $78,000 on Monday, November 2, after a weekend that could easily have turned into a rout. The largest cryptocurrency traded around $77,900 in early trading, having briefly touched $78,700 in the Asian morning, while Ether added about 0.5% to roughly $2,290. The total crypto market value climbed back to $2.62 trillion from $2.55 trillion on Friday. The steadiness is notable because the market was absorbing two shocks at once: the aftermath of the record Binance theft and a sharp selloff in technology shares that had already put risk appetite on the defensive.

The first shock was tested directly on Sunday, when Binance began reopening withdrawals in phases. The exchange said it processed $4.65 billion of withdrawals against $1.01 billion of deposits, a net outflow of $3.64 billion — large in absolute terms, but only about 2% of the $171 billion in assets it had previously disclosed, and the price did not collapse as the money left. Binance also said it has now covered around 95% of the $6.3 billion stolen, while the FBI formally attributed the theft to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group. US agencies have since urged node operators to block addresses linked to the hackers, a move that hit Thorchain hardest: its token fell 6.4%, the biggest loss in the CoinDesk 100.

Institutional money, however, has not rushed back. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds lost $643 million on Friday, their largest daily outflow since June according to Farside Investors, wiping out four days of inflows in a single session. Derivatives tell a similar story of caution rather than conviction: crypto futures volume jumped 56% over 24 hours to $111.8 billion, yet open interest barely moved, holding near $137.1 billion. Traders are churning positions, not adding new ones. On Deribit, the most traded Bitcoin options were puts, led by a $58,000 put expiring on November 27, far below the current price — a sign of hedging against a tail risk rather than a bet on an imminent crash.

That caution fits the longer picture. Bitcoin fell 7.5% in October to about $77,400, its sharpest October decline since 2014, after three months of gains. Technically, the market is boxed in: the 50-day average near $80,307 is the resistance buyers must reclaim, with support at the 100-day average near $77,831 and the 200-day average near $76,471. The daily relative strength index near 40, below the neutral 50 level, shows sellers still hold the short-term edge. A daily close above $80,307 could open a path toward $85,000; a break below $76,471 would weaken the broader structure.

What to watch next is a crowded calendar. Traders are looking to Apple’s earnings after the bell on Monday, Tuesday’s US midterm elections, and Friday’s jobs report, each capable of moving both equities and crypto. Standard Chartered has argued the Binance hack could accelerate a shift toward decentralised exchanges and expects further weakness until the circumstances of the attack and the fate of frozen assets are clarified — a reminder that this recovery still rests on unanswered questions. For readers learning to read such weeks without overtrading, our forex tools can help size a position before acting, and the free forex course covers the risk basics that apply across markets. (Not financial advice.)