Leading Cryptocurrencies Were Muted on Wednesday Even as Negative GDP Growth Stoked Recession Concerns

Leading cryptocurrencies traded muted on Wednesday evening even as a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that U.S. first-quarter GDP grew at a slower-than-anticipated rate and new jobs data from the private sector came in lighter than expected.

What Happened: Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price slipped below the $92,000 level in the early trading hours on the first-quarter GDP number and lighter-than-expected private payrolls reading.

However, the cryptocurrency recovered to the mid-$94,000s by evening, showing resilience.

Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) followed a similar pattern, trading in the red early in the evening but recovering to trade with a slight green bias by evening.

Bitcoin is poised to end April with gains of more than 14%, a significant recovery from the 14% decline observed in the same period last year. In contrast, Ethereum is set to close April with a slight decrease of 1.22%.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization now stands at $2.95 trillion, after a moderate decrease of 0.27% over the past 24 hours.

Despite a slight setback, major U.S. stock averages closed higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 141.74 points, or 0.35%, to reach 40,669.36. The S&P 500 gained 0.15%, closing at 5,569.06. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite showed a minimal decline of 0.09%, bringing it to 17,446.34.

The market encountered some volatility as the BEA revealed that the U.S. first-quarter GDP expanded by 0.3%, a slower pace than the anticipated 0.7% increase and a slowdown from the 2.7% growth rate in the fourth quarter.

Furthermore, the report showed that personal consumption expenditures, a primary gauge of household spending, rose by 1.3%, lagging behind economists’ projections of a 1.5% rise.

In the previous reading, the quarter-over-quarter increase was 3.8%, and economists had anticipated a smaller increase to 3.0%.

Later, data from the payroll processor showed that private employers in the U.S. hired at a slower pace in April and made smaller payrolls increases than economists had anticipated.

According to the report from ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) and Moody’s (NYSE:DPS) and reported by Benzinga, private payrolls increased by 62,000 last month. This was the lightest increase since July of 2024 and was significantly lower than economists’ predictions for a 108,000 rise. March’s report was revised to show a gain of 69,000 jobs, a slight adjustment from the initial estimate of 71,000.

Now, attention turns to the government’s more comprehensive jobs report, which is expected to cover all sectors of the economy and is set to be released on Friday. Economists anticipate an addition of 243,000 jobs and no change in the unemployment rate at 3.8%, according to a survey by Dow Jones.

Top Gainers (24-Hour)

The 24-hour chart shows that at press time, STEPN (CRYPTO:GMT) trades at $29.97 and is up 18.22%. Next is Aave (CRYPTO:AAVE) with a 10.76% price increase, bringing its price to $108.64. Rounding out the top three is ApeCoin (CRYPTO:APE) with a 9.93% price rise, reaching $20.05.

The market capitalization of cryptocurrency stands at $2,949,573,834,964, displaying a slight decrease of 0.27% over the last 24 hours.

Analyst Notes: CryptoQuant, a blockchain analytics firm, highlighted the new all-time high reached by Bitcoin’s realized capitalization, which now stands above $880 billion.

“Historically, large accumulations of realized capitalization have been mostly followed by considerable price increases in Bitcoin,” the firm noted. It added that the price could see an “explosion” if the accumulations continue.

Realized capitalization measures the total acquisition cost of all coins in circulation, as opposed to market capitalization, which uses the current price.

Cryptocurrency analyst and trader Ali Martinez identified $95,870 as a key level for Bitcoin to watch, as a breach could set the stage for a rally to new all-time highs.

“If Bitcoin breaks and holds above $95,870, the