The Nasdaq fell by more than 5% on November 5 as big tech companies connected to the AI build-out led the stock market dramatically lower, according to NBC News' Christine Romans, who reported on which companies took some of the biggest hits.

Investor's Business Daily reports that fierce selling picked up steam as Thursday's trading came to a close, sending artificial intelligence leaders tumbling to session lows and the Nasdaq into correction territory after a one-day rally following the clear midterm election vote.

At the nadir of the move, Nvidia entered bear territory, while TradingView names Broadcom, Oracle, CoreWeave and Nebius among the other heavy losers as investors pulled back from technology stocks.

The speed and breadth of the wipeout is what separates this from routine volatility.

TradingView reports that Wall Street suffered a $2.5 trillion wipeout in a single session — the worst decline in more than a year — with the S&P 500 falling 4.36% to 7,353.73, the Dow down 3.44%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropping 10%.

Asian markets then deepened the sell-off on November 6, erasing more than $1 trillion in market value in one day after losing over $550 billion the day before.

A market that had been pricing in an unstoppable AI infrastructure boom suddenly repriced in the opposite direction, and the pain spread far beyond AI stocks into memory chips, crypto stocks and even Bitcoin.

TradingView details the scale across Asia: Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 6% to enter a bear market, 21% below its June record, wiping out roughly $450 billion; South Korea's KOSPI collapsed 9% to 4,912 and triggered a trading halt, with SK Hynix down 12% and Samsung Electronics nearly 10%; Shenzhen has fallen 30% from its June high, erasing roughly $210 billion; and Taiwan's TAIEX dropped 3.2% to sit 24% below its October record.

Bitcoin fell from above $80,800 to around $75,500–76,000, triggering roughly $1 billion in crypto liquidations, 88% involving leveraged long positions, with Coinbase and MicroStrategy down roughly 10–11%.

Investor's Business Daily adds that futures were split after the meltdown and chip stocks tumbled after Arm and Qualcomm reports.

The trigger, per TradingView, was a macro surprise: US Initial Jobless Claims unexpectedly fell to 189,000, below the 197,000 forecast and near levels last seen in 1969.

While that signals a strong US economy, it reduced expectations for easier monetary policy, pressuring Bitcoin and other risk assets.

TradingView also cites investor fears of US regulatory changes and a slowdown in AI infrastructure spending as reasons Asian investors dumped technology and AI stocks.

Investor's Business Daily notes the sell-off followed a clear midterm vote that briefly produced a rally, and warns that the October jobs report looms as the next test for a market already on edge.

With the Nasdaq more than 10% below its October peak per TradingView and Nvidia in bear territory per Investor's Business Daily, attention now turns to whether the AI-led selling stabilizes or spreads.

IBD reports futures were split after the meltdown and flags the October jobs report as the next major catalyst, while its related coverage notes the sell-off spread far beyond AI names.

The open questions are whether AI infrastructure spending really is slowing, whether US regulatory changes for tech take shape after the midterms, and whether leveraged crypto traders — who absorbed $1 billion in liquidations — force further deleveraging.

After two days of losses totalling trillions across the US, Asia and crypto, investors are bracing for more volatility.