Bitcoin Gets Served a $165K Job Shock as Rate-Hike Odds Jump 📉

Bitcoin briefly fell below $75,000 after a U.S. payroll report showed 165,000 new jobs added in October, nearly triple the 59,000 forecast, while the dollar climbed and traders increased expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike. The cryptocurrency had surged above $76,000 around 8:25 a.m. EST before selling pressure pushed it to $74,762, its lowest level since Aug. 21. By 11:48 a.m. EST, $BTC was trading below $75,700 and down nearly 1.5% over the previous 24 hours.

The report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also showed unemployment falling to 4.1%, below the 4.2% forecast. August and September payrolls were revised up by a combined 84,000 jobs, lifting the three-month hiring average to about 137,000. Average hourly earnings increased 0.4% in October and 3.1% from a year earlier, exceeding forecasts of 0.3% and 2.9%, respectively.

The data strengthened expectations for tighter U.S. monetary policy. Traders had priced a 67% chance of a quarter-point hike at the Federal Reserve’s December 8 and 9 meeting before the report, according to CME FedWatch figures. That probability rose to 76.8% as of publication. The Fed raised rates in September for the first time in three years and held its target range at 3.75% to 4.00% on October 28.

Gold also declined after the 8:30 a.m. ET release, dropping to about $4,032 an ounce from roughly $4,062 before the data before recovering to about $4,050. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the dollar against six major currencies, climbed to about 102.22 and later settled near 102.14, up from 102.07 before the release. $BTC had briefly climbed above $76,100 before falling to about $75,600, then traded near $75,780 on Binance, roughly 0.2% below its pre-release level.