Leading cryptocurrencies fell alongside stocks and precious metals on Wednesday, even as job growth accelerated strongly in January.
Crypto Market Stays In The Dumps
Bitcoin dived below $65,000 in the early trading hours before bouncing back to $68,000 in the evening. Trading volume for the coin jumped 25% in the last 24 hours, indicating high selling pressure.
Ethereum came under pressure, but was guarded by the support at $1,900. XRP and Dogecoin also traded in the red.
Over $470 million was liquidated from the market in the last 24 hours, according to Coinglass, with nearly $300 million in bullish long bets erased.
Bitcoin’s open interest rose 1.49% over the past 24 hours. A jump in open interest coupled with a drop in spot price typically indicates entry of new short positions.
The “Extreme Fear” sentiment persisted in the market, according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index.
Top Gainers (24 Hours)
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.35 trillion, following a decline of 2.12% over the past 24 hours.
Stocks, Gold Edge Lower
Stocks slipped on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back from record highs, falling 0.13% to close at 50,121.40. The S&P 500 was broadly unchanged at 6,941.47, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite lost 0.16% to end at 23,066.47.
These moves followed a strong labor market rebound this year, as the U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs in January, nearly double the 70,000 expected by economists. However, the jobs report also included sweeping benchmark revisions that erased roughly 898,000 jobs from payroll estimates from April 2024 through March 2025.
Meanwhile, odds of an interest rate cut next month fell from 20% a day earlier to 5.4%, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Spot gold was down 0.62% at $5,053.99 per ounce, having earlier touched $5,100. Spot silver fell 1.93% to $82.68 an ounce, reversing from an intraday high of $84.97.
Whales Are Accumulating BTC
CryptoVizArt.₿, lead research analyst at on-chain research firm Glassnode, noted that whales have steadily bought Bitcoin’s dip since the cryptocurrency’s fall below $80,000.
The analyst highlighted that the 30-day simple moving average of Bitcoin whale outflows from exchanges has risen to 3.2%.
“This mirrors the structure seen in H1 2022, when whales accumulated for several months and in multiple waves, before the next bull market began,” they added.
Jelle, a widely followed cryptocurrency commentator on X, predicted a gradual decline to the low $50,000s for Bitcoin followed by a rebound, citing historical similarities from the 2022 bear market.
“Would see a relatively slow bleed towards the low $50,000 from here – before bouncing back up; if it keeps playing out the same,” the analyst said.
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