The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published its latest jobs data on Friday morning, revealing a March hiring increase of 228,000 jobs.
US Job Market Booms but Bitcoin Fails to React
Strong hiring numbers published on Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showing a 228,000 jump in hiring activity failed to shake the dominant cryptocurrency from a sideways trend.
Overview of Market Metrics
Bitcoin traded within a range of $81,282.10 to $84,696.15, and at the time of reporting, BTC was valued at $83,161.37, an increase of 2.22% over the past day but a decline of 1.19% over the last week. Trading volume fell by 21.28% to $42.5 billion, suggesting subdued market participation, while bitcoin’s market capitalization slightly increased by 1.92% to $1.65 trillion.
BTC dominance currently stands at 62.68%, a marginal decrease of 0.19% over the past day, indicating that while bitcoin remains the market leader, altcoins are beginning to capture more attention.
Futures open interest, a measure of leveraged positions, is at $52.23 billion, down 2.43% over the last 24 hours. Additionally, Coinglass data reveals that total liquidations reached $9.23 million in the past day, with long liquidations at $5.53 million and short liquidations at $3.70 million, suggesting that a mix of both bullish and bearish bets missed the mark.
Hiring Rises in March, but so Does Unemployment
March payroll data shows 228,000 jobs were added to the economy, exceeding analyst expectations of 130,000. However, unemployment also ticked up to 4.2%, an increase of 0.1% from February’s 4.1%.
Bitcoin, in its capacity as a risk asset, tends to appreciate in low-interest rate environments, but Friday’s better-than-expected job data may delay any potential rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve in the near term.
Bitcoin as a US ‘Isolation Hedge’
Geoffrey Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, has described bitcoin as an “isolation hedge” that counteracts the negative effects of President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs announced Wednesday afternoon.
“Over the last 36 hours I think we can also add ‘U.S. isolation’ hedge to the list of bitcoin uses,” Kendrick explained.
“A break back above the critical $85K level looks likely today, post payrolls. That opens up a move back to the $88.5K pre-tariff level from Wednesday, likely this weekend,” he added.
