Strong Employment Figures Push Bitcoin Toward $98K Threshold

The U.S. economy surprised bleak predictions and added a higher-than-expected 177,000 jobs in April, sparking a rally in traditional markets as bitcoin (BTC) climbed closer to the $98K threshold.

Strong Employment Figures Push Bitcoin Toward $98K Threshold

The U.S. Department of Labor took pessimistic economists by surprise when it released its highly anticipated jobs report on Friday, displaying a stronger-than-expected addition of 177,000 jobs to the U.S. economy and an unemployment rate remaining flat at 4.2%. Traditional and crypto markets soared on the news, with bitcoin ( BTC) reaching nearly $98K.

Economists at data analysis firm Factset, had on Thursday predicted an addition of 135,000 jobs, 42,000 less than what the government reported. The S&P 500,Nasdaq, and Dow Jones Industrial Average were all up 1.64%, 1.88%, and 1.50% respectively, at the time of reporting. Coinmarketcap data showed a slight 0.21% boost to the crypto market which now stands at a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion.

Earlier in the week, the Department of Commerce reported that the U.S. economy had shrunk by 0.3%, then on Thursday, the Department of Labor released data showing that 241,000 unemployed Americans had filed for jobless benefits for the week ending April 26. President Donald Trump’s controversial tariff policies were largely blamed for the negative data, which at times, made BTC stumble, and certainly rattled traditional markets. But now, with such solid jobs data, and $98K in sight, Standard Chartered Bank’s prediction of a “fresh all-time high” of $120K by the summer doesn’t sound so unreasonable.

“I look for a fresh all-time high of $120K in Q2,” said Geoffrey Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered. “Then onto my $200K end-year forecast.”

Overview of Market Metrics

Bitcoin rose to $97,905.90 on Friday morning, but retreated slightly and is currently trading at $97,337.50, up 0.14% over 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap. The cryptocurrency moved within a narrow range between $96,222.76 and $97,905.90, and its weekly performance showed a solid 1.88% increase.

Despite the uptick in price, bitcoin’s 24-hour trading volume fell sharply by 15.10% to $27.20 billion, indicating a cooling off in market activity. Nevertheless, bitcoin’s market capitalization rose slightly to $1.93 trillion, up 0.15% from the previous day, reflecting sustained investor interest. BTC’s dominance over the broader crypto market also edged higher by 0.16 percentage points to 64.85% and is at its highest level since 2021.

Activity in the derivatives market showed mixed signals. According to Coinglass, BTC futures open interest dipped slightly by 0.30% to $67.69 billion. Meanwhile, total liquidations over the past 24 hours amounted to $661,120, with long positions bearing the brunt of all liquidations at $551,770, suggesting bulls misjudged the market’s short-term direction. Short sellers, by contrast, saw just $109,350 in liquidations, pointing to a more cautious and defensive stance.