Democrats won 51 seats in the US Senate and a majority in the House of Representatives. This is reported by the Associated Press. Republicans are losing control of Congress.
Congress is the US parliament made up of two chambers. All laws pass through it, including the rules for cryptocurrencies. Without a majority in the chambers, Trump's crypto agenda loses automatic support.
For a trader, this has already cost money. Overnight, the market repriced Bitcoin and tech stocks.
How did the balance of power shape up?
The decisive race was in Iowa, where Democrat Josh Turek won.
In the House of Representatives, Democrats flipped more than a dozen districts in the first hours after polls closed. The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of Congress; 218 seats are needed for a majority.
- 57 million Americans voted early, a record
- 43% of early ballots in the 27 states with party registration went to Democrats
- 32% in those same states went to Republicans
Why did the crypto lobby lose?
The industry invested in the campaign and got no result. The money went into two key races, and both went against the industry.
- Ohio. Former Senator Sherrod Brown returned to the Senate; the crypto industry spent $63 million against him.
- Nebraska. Fairshake put in almost $11 million to support Republican Pete Ricketts, who was trailing at the halfway point of the count. Fairshake is a political action committee through which crypto companies fund candidates.
What will happen to crypto laws?
The practical fork in the road is the CLARITY Act. It is a bill on the rules for the digital asset market.
- 49 to 50 - that was the margin by which a procedural vote in the Senate failed in September
- January - if the document is not passed by that deadline, the new Congress starts from scratch
- Elizabeth Warren - is projected to head the Senate Banking Committee, without whose approval crypto laws cannot move forward. She is one of the industry's harshest critics
What did the market get?
The market worked this out overnight. Bitcoin fell to $75,700, and by morning was trading around $77,300.
Tesla shares lost 3% overnight. The Democrats' campaign was built in part on opposition to new data centers and artificial intelligence.
The main thing: Trump said he is ready to accept the results and work with the Democrats. Some districts on the West Coast will be counting for several more days.
Nights like this are easier to get through with a clear risk limit. You can check the dates of upcoming events in the economic calendar, and pick a challenge to suit your market - by trading style.
Were you watching the overnight BTC slide?
The night of vote counting gave fifteen hundred dollars down on BTC and back. Plus a drawdown in tech stocks. The whole question is the volume you went into it with: on a personal deposit of a few thousand, such a night produces a sum that is unnoticeable in the monthly results. In prop trading, the trading account is provided by the company: a paid selection process under its rules, then its capital in your terminal and an agreed share of the profit. Until January, when Congress takes up crypto laws again, there is enough time to understand the mechanics.