Bitcoin falls below $54k as market sees volatility following jobs data
Bitcoin tumbled below $54,000 on Friday after initially climbing to $57,000 earlier in the day following the release of a key US jobs report.
The swift reversal sent shockwaves through the crypto market, with Bitcoin shedding nearly 4% over the past 24 hours in a bout of intense volatility.
As of press time, the flagship crypto was trading at $54,100 after touching a low of $53,780 and had yet to establish a local bottom for the day, based on CryptoSlate data.
The jobs report showed the US economy added 142,000 jobs in August, a figure that analysts believe could open the door for a potential 25 basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve. However, uncertainty over future economic conditions and interest rates seemed to contribute to the heightened market turbulence.
Wider market bleeds
The selloff extended beyond Bitcoin, with major altcoins seeing similar declines. Ethereum was down 4.6% over the past 24 hours and trading at $2,261.8 as of press time.
BNB and Solana (SOL) experienced relatively muted losses and were down roughly 2% each over the past day to trade at $490.3 and $127.6 as of press time.
Meanwhile, Ripple’s XRP and Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded declines of over 4% over the last 24 hours. As of press time, the two coins were trading at $0.5237 and $0.09271, respectively. TRON saw a more modest decline of 1.47% in the past 24 hours, with its price at $0.1481 as of press time.
In contrast, Toncoin bucked the trend, gaining 2.4% over the same period and reaching $4.75 after a substantial fall this month following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France.
In parallel, US equities also faced declines, with the Nasdaq Composite Index dropping 1.9% and the S&P 500 slipping 1.15%.
Liquidations
Bitcoin led the charge in liquidations, with $52.25 million in leveraged positions being wiped out as its price tumbled below $54,000, according to Coinglass data.
The majority of the liquidations — $46.4 million — affected leveraged long positions as traders who had bet on Bitcoin’s continued rally were caught off guard when the market quickly reversed. This contributed to the broader wave of forced selling of other assets.
Ethereum followed with $15.46 million in liquidated positions as its price dropped 4.62% in a matter of hours. The altcoin market also suffered considerable losses, with major tokens such as Solana and XRP posting liquidation totals in the millions.
Overall, the crypto market saw over $100 million in liquidated positions within a brief window of volatility. The majority of these liquidations were on long positions, as leveraged traders betting on rising prices faced sudden reversals, contributing to the sharp price declines.
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