The crypto market is bleeding red as of late Friday afternoon, with major assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum plunging by 5% or more following a rough U.S. jobs report that also spooked the stock market—and prompted fears of an impending recession.
The price of Bitcoin fell well under $62,000 on Friday, dipping as low as $61,308 per data from CoinGecko. It's back up to just above $62,000 as of this writing, but is still down about 5% on the day from a 24-hour peak of $65,505.
Meanwhile, Ethereum fell sharply, dipping down to $2,967 after being above the $3,200 mark less than a day ago. At a current price of just under $3,000, it's still down nearly 6% on the day. Other major assets have seen similar or even larger dips, such as Solana, which is down more than 7% at a price of $154.
Volatility across the crypto markets on Friday led to another spike in liquidations of long and short positions, or bets that the future price of a crypto asset will rise or fall, respectively. As of this writing, CoinGlass reports $269 million worth of positions liquidated over the past 24 hours across the market, led by $82 million worth of Bitcoin positions.
It's the second straight day of sizable crypto liquidations as the price of top assets continue to fall.
A weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report released early Friday appeared to spook markets across the board, with the stock market showing red across the board and crypto prices eventually following suit. The report, which noted a jump in the unemployment rate as nonfarm jobs fell well short of expectations, prompted fears that a U.S. recession is taking hold.
Bitcoin Sinks Further as $310 Million in Longs Get Rekt
How quickly things can change in the crypto space: On Monday, Bitcoin was closing in on its all-time high again after having touched—briefly—$70,000 per coin. But now the asset is trading well below its 2021 record of $69,044—and futures traders are getting ruined. Over the past 24 hours, as Bitcoin has dropped nearly 6% to $62,753, over $316 million in long positions have been liquidated, CoinGlass data shows. That figure refers to all coins and tokens in the space that traders had bet on goin...
However, while the panic has shown apparent short-term effects on crypto prices, some analysts believe that Bitcoin may ultimately benefit amid a weaker U.S. dollar and potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts that are expected.
Why Bitcoin Could Benefit as a Potential Recession Looms
A series of disastrous economic results published on Friday has onlookers believing the United States economy is quickly spiraling into recession. But while the news initially coincided with a dip in the price of crypto assets, analysts say that a weaker U.S. dollar could ultimately benefit Bitcoin over the long term. The stock market tumbled Friday following the poor reports, with Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies following suit. Bitcoin’s price briefly jumped to $65,400 but then fell sh...
“With the Fed weakening monetary policy, it will be supportive for fixed-supply assets such as Bitcoin and gold,” CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill told Decrypt.
