Markets
Markets Today: Tech rout deepens as Bitcoin tests $76,000 after the Binance hack (October 30, 2026)
Tech stocks tumbled and Bitcoin fell toward $76,000 on October 30, 2026, as Intel and Amazon earnings and a $6.3B Binance hack rattled markets.
Friday was a risk-off day on both sides of the market: tech stocks sold off hard after disappointing earnings from Amazon and Intel, and Bitcoin slid toward $76,000 after a record $6.3 billion hack of Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. The Nasdaq took the worst of it, while energy stocks and a handful of individual gainers bucked the trend. Stock closes as of 4 p.m. ET; crypto as of about 4:16 p.m. ET (20:16 UTC), October 30, 2026. This is not financial advice.
Crypto snapshot
| Asset | Price | 24h change |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $76,870 | -1.2% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | $2,239 | -0.4% |
| Total crypto market cap | About $2.60 trillion | About -3% (midday reading) |
Bitcoin fell to an overnight low of about $76,400, its lowest since September 18, before recovering some ground, according to CoinDesk. The Motley Fool's early-evening snapshot put Bitcoin at $76,870, Ethereum at $2,239 and Solana at $94.94, in a report on the day's crypto slide.
Stock market snapshot
| Index | Close | Daily change |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,580.07 | -1.83% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 25,437.00 | -2.87% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 51,770.31 | -1.09% |
The closing levels come from an after-market brief whose figures line up with Thursday's closes; TipRanks independently reported the S&P 500's 1.82% closing loss. For the month, Investopedia reported the Nasdaq fell 5.3% in October, its biggest one-month drop since March 2025, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.9% and the Dow added 1.7%, in its Friday markets roundup.
Today's winners and losers
Stocks
- Winners: ADT surged 33.2%, Gen Digital jumped 15.8% and Norwegian Cruise Line rose 13.5%, standing out on an otherwise red day. Energy was the S&P 500's best sector, up 1.91%, led by refiners and producers including Valero, Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum.
- Losers: Intel plunged about 29% after a weak fourth-quarter outlook overshadowed better-than-expected third-quarter results. ServiceNow and Alphabet's big drops — 27.0% and 12.6% — came Thursday on their earnings; on Friday Alphabet eased a further about 1.4%, and Coinbase slid more than 10% as crypto stocks tumbled with Bitcoin.
Crypto
- Winners: Beam led the top-200 movers with a 38.9% jump to $0.00472, followed by Quack AI (+15.2%) and Kinetiq (+14.3%), according to a Dextape market report.
- Losers: Bitway fell 28.1%, Celestia dropped 15.7% and Pyth Network lost 15.3%, as most large crypto assets declined alongside Bitcoin.
What's driving the moves
- Big Tech earnings disappointed again. Amazon missed expectations and flagged worrying free cash flow amid massive AI spending, while Intel guided fourth-quarter revenue of $15-16 billion, well below the $17.1 billion consensus. The reports deepened doubts about the payoff from AI infrastructure spending that had already been stirred by Alphabet's miss on Thursday.
- The Binance hack rattled crypto. Binance estimates about $6.3 billion in assets were affected, with roughly $3 billion frozen with industry partners and withdrawals paused. Forced liquidations across crypto reached about $1.57 billion, per CoinDesk, and spot Bitcoin ETFs fell sharply, with the iShares Bitcoin Trust down about 5%.
- Bonds rallied as stocks fell. The 10-year Treasury yield eased to about 4.93%, down roughly 6 basis points, as investors rotated toward safer assets. The Federal Reserve had held rates at 3.75%-4.00% on October 28, and traders were pricing roughly a 75-80% chance of a December rate hike.
- Oil stayed high on Middle East tensions. Brent crude traded around $112-117 a barrel as Iran said two oil tankers were stopped near the Strait of Hormuz, which handles roughly 20% of global oil flows, while WTI climbed more than 2% to above $104. That helped energy stocks even as the broader market fell.
- Gold fell anyway. Gold futures dropped 3.7% to about $3,883 an ounce, their lowest since last September, an unusual move alongside rallying bonds that points to broad liquidation rather than a simple flight to safety. Friday's Employment Cost Index came in as expected, up 0.8% for the quarter, giving the market no new reason to rethink rates.
What investors are watching next
Next week packs several catalysts into a few days, and traders are watching how each one lands rather than assuming an outcome. Reuters' week-ahead preview flags the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3, where Democrats are widely expected to win the House while Senate control is less certain, with possible implications for AI regulation on investors' radar, in its take-five outlook. Apple headlines earnings on Monday, November 2, after the close, with AMD, Qualcomm and Palantir also due during the week. The October jobs report arrives Friday, November 6, and analysts note it could sharpen the picture for the Fed's December decision; September data had shown just 29,000 jobs added. The Bank of England also decides rates on Thursday, November 5. On the crypto side, Ethereum traders are watching whether the market steadies after Ether's dip below $2,200 overnight, with FXStreet noting about $350 million in Ether futures liquidations over the past day.
Bottom line: October ended with a reminder that the year's two hottest trades — AI stocks and crypto — can fall together when earnings disappoint and a shock hits confidence. Tech bore the brunt, energy and bonds cushioned some of the blow, and next week's elections, Apple earnings and jobs report will test whether Friday's selling was a pause or the start of a longer unwind. Nothing here is a recommendation; the week ahead has enough scheduled news to move prices either way.