U.S. Markets Surge Post-Election Victory

U.S. markets closed sharply higher on Wednesday following Republican and pro-crypto candidate Donald Trump's victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. As the election results favored Trump, overnight trading surged.

Cryptocurrency Boom

On the cryptocurrency front, Bitcoin hit a new all-time high, trading around $76,000, up 9.8% according to The Block's BTC price page.

The Dow rose 3.5% to 43,729.93, the S&P 500 gained 2.5% to close at 5,929.04, and the Nasdaq closed up 2.9% at 18,983.46. The GMCI 30 index, representing the top 30 cryptocurrencies, increased by 9.7% to 132.86, showing a 33.6% rise year-to-date.

Crypto-Related Equities Perform Well

The surge in Bitcoin and market indices benefited crypto-related equities significantly. Coinbase led with over a 31% increase, recovering from a 15% drop post third-quarter earnings. Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal called for dialogue with the SEC on crypto regulations, stating that voters want change.

Additionally, Bitcoin mining stocks such as Cipher Mining saw gains over 30%, while other companies like Iris Energy and Riot Platforms rose more than 20%.

Corporate holder MicroStrategy also gained, with a 13% increase in share price.

Overnight Trading Surge

A significant part of this trading frenzy was attributed to Robinhood, the commission-free brokerage. It reported its biggest-ever overnight session since launching its “24 Hour Market,” with 11 times its usual overnight volume.

Among the top traded stocks, three were crypto-related: Coinbase, MicroStrategy, and IBIT. Robinhood reported that crypto trading volumes grew 112% year-over-year, totaling $14.4 billion in Q3.

BlackRock’s IBIT spot Bitcoin ETF saw heightened trading volumes of $1 billion within just 20 minutes of the regular trading session. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas noted the incredible volume, indicating a record-breaking day ahead for Bitcoin ETFs, all of which closed Wednesday up by at least 8%.