Bitcoin Hits Lowest Price in a Month Following Weak US Jobs Report

Bitcoin’s price nosedived to below $54,000 per coin Friday after U.S. jobs data showed that hiring fell short of forecasts. 

The largest digital asset by market cap is now trading hands for $53,829, CoinGecko shows, marking Bitcoin’s lowest price recorded since August 5. It’s down by almost 5% over the past 24 hours now, pushing its weekly dip to 8%.

Markets reacted to data from the Labor Department showing that the economy added 142,000 jobs—lower than the expected mark of 160,000. While the unemployment rate dropped slightly from 4.3% to 4.2%, the underwhelming jobs report fueled concerns that the U.S. economy might be weaker than previously thought.

Investors also sold other risk assets following the release of the data, with tech stocks taking a dip: the S&P 500 dropped by 1% with the Nasdaq down by nearly 2%.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have largely been trading like U.S. equities, swinging in value on any hint from the Federal Reserve about what it will do with interest rates.

It is expected the central bank will finally slash interest rates this month after hiking them to a 22-year high in 2022 to tame inflation. The question now is just how sizable of rate cuts are coming.

The price of Ethereum, the second-biggest coin, stands at $2,282 after losing nearly 4% of its value in 24 hours. Other major coins and tokens are down by similar amounts over the past day, with meme coin Dogecoin dropping by 5% and XRP shedding 4% of its value. The coins are priced at $0.093 and $0.52, respectively. 

Bitcoin is now nearly 27% below the March all-time high mark of $73,737 it touched following the historic approval of spot ETFs, which led to a flood of capital into the space.

Edited by Andrew Hayward