Bitcoin was trading around $77,000 on the morning of Nov. 3, down about 1.1% over 24 hours and back below Sunday's $78,750 high. Ether sat near $2,250, off 0.4%. Markets head into the US midterm elections in a cautious mood, with the fallout from the $6.3 billion Binance hack still unsettled.
Price action and ETF flows
Bitcoin fell roughly 1.7% on Monday even though WTI crude dropped more than 7% to near $96.50 on hopes of US-Iran diplomacy. Cheaper energy was not enough to pull money into risk assets. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index stood at 37 on Sunday, in fear territory.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $643.3 million on Friday, the biggest daily outflow since June 25, and $202.6 million for the week. Spot Ether ETFs shed $155.9 million on the day and $431.5 million over the week. Total Bitcoin ETF net assets remain near $98.14 billion, so Friday's exit was under 1% of the pool.
Among large altcoins, Solana traded near $91.50 (down 2.6%), HYPE around $83 (down 4.2%), XRP near $1.24 and roughly flat, and BNB about $697 (down 1.6%).
Futures: positions intact, expected volatility rising
Bitcoin futures open interest is about $58 billion and Ether's about $23.58 billion, both roughly unchanged in 24 hours. Open positions have not been cleared out by the pullback, and they can still be forced shut if prices move sharply.
Options show more caution. Implied volatility for the Nov. 4 expiry, the day after the election, is around 43.5%, against roughly 36% for later dates. A five-point skew means puts cost more than calls, a sign traders are paying up for downside protection. Specific liquidation totals and funding rates were not available from a reliable source for this report, so none are quoted.
Binance and overnight security incidents
Binance reopened withdrawals on Sunday, and users pulled a net $3.64 billion in the first 9.5 hours. The exchange published a new proof of reserves and says it has replenished about 95% of the lost assets. Its SAFU Bitcoin wallet holds roughly 7,500 BTC after a 7,499 BTC transfer, with no timeline to rebuild the $1 billion fund. Binance also warned of a possible second wave of theft.
The FBI has blamed North Korean hackers; Pyongyang denies it and calls the accusation politically motivated. On-chain tracking suggests about $2.85 billion of the $6.43 billion stolen has been frozen or seized.
Elsewhere, Brazil's Mercado Bitcoin paused deposits and withdrawals after roughly $40 million to $46 million left wallets on at least 10 chains, and Tether froze more than $4.5 million USDT. An on-chain investigator also says an unidentified European entity may have lost over $106 million from exchange accounts.
Corporate headlines
Strategy bought 811 BTC for $65.5 million but spent $208.2 million on STRC preferred buybacks the same week, about three times its Bitcoin outlay. Strive added 124 BTC (about $10 million) and Bitmine added 8,573 ETH, lifting its holdings to 6.06 million ETH. Morgan Stanley downgraded Coinbase and cut its price target to $120, citing slower trading activity.
What it means for traders
For futures traders, the mismatch matters: open interest remains high while ETFs see outflows and options carry a premium around the election. When many positions sit in a narrow price range, one sudden move can set off a chain of liquidations, and high leverage magnifies that risk.
Watch the midterm results, ETF flows over the next sessions, the pace of Binance withdrawals and whether implied volatility cools after Nov. 4. You can test an open trade's risk with the position and liquidation-price calculator or follow price action on the charts page.