Crypto Markets Trade Sideways as August Jobs Report Disappoints

Major digital assets traded mostly sideways on Friday, Sept. 5, as investors digested fresh U.S. employment data showing slower job growth and a rising unemployment rate.

Bitcoin (BTC) ticked up 1% over the past 24 hours to $111,000, bringing its weekly gain to 2%. Ethereum (ETH) slipped 0.5% on the day to $4,290, down 1% over the week.

Meanwhile, XRP is trading flat on the day at $2.82, and Solana (SOL) dropped 1% to $202. Notably, the NEET (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) memecoin is bucking the trend by surging 33% on the day following the jobs data.

“Bitcoin has stabilised around $110–111k, which is about 10% below all-time highs, while Gold is pushing higher,” James Harris, Group CEO of Tesseract, said in comments shared with The Defiant. “That divergence is notable; we’d expect more correlation in today’s environment.”

Tether’s move into the gold supply chain is also worth mentioning, Harris explained. “With $8.7B already held in gold reserves, their strategy seems clear: position gold as a kind of ‘natural Bitcoin’,” he said. “For investors wary of fiat debasement, BTC and gold are increasingly seen as the safe-haven trades.”

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization is up 0.7% over the past 24 hours to $3.9 trillion, with Bitcoin dominance at 56% and Ethereum at 13%, according to CoinGecko.

Liquidations and ETFs

Over the past 24 hours, nearly $328 million in crypto positions were liquidated, including $191 million of long positions and $137 million of shorts, per CoinGlass. Bitcoin led with over $118 million in liquidations, followed by Ethereum at $106 million.

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded $227 million in net outflows on Thursday, according to SoSoValue.

Meanwhile, spot Ethereum ETFs posted a fourth consecutive day of outflows, with more than $167 million withdrawn on Sept. 4, bringing total losses to over $500 million so far.

Weakening Labor Market

The sideways price action coincides with the release of nonfarm payrolls data for August, which increased by just 22,000 – well below the 75,000 jobs economists had forecast

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 4.3% from 4.2% in July. Payroll growth also slowed from July’s revised gain of 79,000, and revisions highlighted a net loss of 13,000 jobs in June.

Growing Adoption

Harris noted that despite muted price action, the week highlighted crypto’s growing integration into mainstream finance.

For example, earlier today, Paul Atkins, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Caroline D. Pham, Acting Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), released a joint statement, expressing optimism about “harmonizing” their efforts to support innovation, including in crypto.

“Harmonization between U.S. market regulators is essential to the viability of a broad range of innovative products,” the statement reads. “Today, we build on our divisions’ joint statement on facilitating trading of certain spot crypto asset products and highlight the innovations that greater harmonization of SEC and CFTC regulatory frameworks can unleash.”

Earlier this week, the SEC and CFTC issued a separate joint statement clarifying their views that registered exchanges “are not prohibited from facilitating the trading of certain spot commodity products.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve announced on Sept. 3 that it will soon host a Payments Innovation Conference to speak on emerging technologies, including decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins, and tokenized financial products.

The Fed is also predicted to lower interest rates on Sept. 17, which has revived investor optimism. Currently, the odds of a cut stand at 99%, according to MacroMicro.

“Clearly, the past lack of clarity has been a handbrake on institutional adoption. Now, we’re seeing proposals for clearer frameworks around token issuance and trading, along with streamlined disclosure requirements,” Harris said. “If implemented well, this could finally unlock meaningful participation from traditional finance, which has largely held back due to regulatory uncertainty.”