Investing.com — The world’s largest cryptocurrency on Friday plumbed its lowest level since October 2024, and briefly slipped under the key $60,000 level. A strong May jobs report boosted expectations for interest rate hikes, which weighed on already pressured by steep institutional outflows.
Crypto had also been weighed down this week after top corporate Bitcoin holder sold some of its holdings for the first time since late 2022, and a broader shift towards artificial intelligence stocks.
Bitcoin was last down 2.4% to $61,749.7 at 17:38 ET (21:38 GMT). It earlier hit a session low at $59,159.3.
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Bitcoin set for deep weekly loss amid heavy ETF outflows
Bitcoin was set to lose over 16% this week amid pressure from continued institutional selling, which was directed mainly at spot exchange-traded funds. Bitcoin ETFs were nursing an outflow of $1.4 billion this week– their fourth consecutive week of over $1 billion outflows, data from SoSoValue showed.
Institutional selling came amid heightened broader risk-aversion spurred chiefly by uncertainty over the U.S.-Iran war. Military action between the two restarted over the past week, while reports showed Tehran halting indirect negotiations with Washington.
Institutional selling was also in part driven by investors increasingly favoring AI stocks over non-yielding crypto assets. Anticipation of bumper initial public offerings, from SpaceX and from AI majors OpenAI and Anthropic, also drummed up sentiment towards the sector.
Beyond institutional selling, retail investors also appeared to be largely averse towards Bitcoin. Coinglass’ Bitcoin Coinbase premium index – which measures Bitcoin’s spot price in the biggest U.S. exchange in comparison to the global average – showed the crypto trading at a deep discount.
Blowout May jobs report fans Fed rate-hike bets
The U.S. economy added 172,000 jobs in May, nearly double the 85,000 analysts had forecast, offering a fresh sign that the American labor market remains hot despite the ongoing conflict with Iran.
The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, matching both April’s level and market expectations. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% from the prior month, in line with estimates and slightly ahead of April’s 0.2% gain.
Gains were broad-based, with leisure and hospitality, local government, and health care among the sectors driving growth. Financial activities was a notable soft spot.
Prior months were also revised higher. April’s payroll count was lifted to 179,000 from an initial reading of 115,000, while March was bumped up to 214,000 from 185,000. Combined, the two revisions added 93,000 jobs to previously reported figures, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
The report is the third consecutive strong reading and comes against a difficult backdrop. Oil prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint assault on Iran in late February, stoking fears that inflation could reignite and drag on broader economic activity.
That concern has pushed expectations toward tighter monetary policy, with markets now pricing in at least one Federal Reserve rate hike by the end of 2026, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.
Still, analysts at Vital Knowledge cautioned that because unemployment and wage growth “weren’t particularly hot,” the policy outlook “probably won’t shift that dramatically.”
Crypto price today: altcoins retreat, also set for weekly wipeout
Broader crypto prices tumbled on Friday, tracking declines in Bitcoin.
World no.2 crypto slid 8.3% to $1,615.74, and was lower by about 20% for the week. It also hit a 14-month trough.
lost 3.9% to $1.1144, and had declined more than 15% for the week.
and pared some losses, last down 3.8% and 10.1%, respectively. fell 3.6%.
Among memecoins, and shed 4.6% and 8.6%, respectively.
Vahid Karaahmetovic and Anuron Mitra contributed to this article