Crypto traders embrace risk as Bitcoin dominance nears 60%
Bitcoin rises ahead of U.S. jobs data
Bitcoin climbed more than 3.4% to trade above $86,000 on Thursday, leading gains across the crypto market. Other major tokens including Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and BNB also rose, though none matched Bitcoin's pace. Smaller tokens saw even bigger moves, with SKY, AAVE, and APT jumping between 7% and 10%.
The rally comes ahead of a closely watched U.S. jobs report due Friday, which economists expect will show 90,000 jobs added in September, down from 162,000 in August.
Market signals point to rising risk appetite
- Bitcoin dominance is approaching 60%, its highest level in months, meaning Bitcoin is capturing a larger share of the total crypto market.
- The share of USDT, the largest dollar-pegged stablecoin, slipped to around 6.3%, suggesting traders are moving money out of stablecoins and into volatile crypto assets.
- BTC open interest in derivatives rose to $22.4 billion from $20.9 billion the day before.
- Funding rates on some exchanges hit 9% to 10% annualized, indicating traders are paying extra to hold leveraged bullish positions.
- $344 million in positions were liquidated in 24 hours, up from $100 million the previous day, underscoring the risks of high leverage.
What the jobs report could mean
Analysts are watching the nonfarm payrolls data and the October 14 consumer price index report for clues about inflation-adjusted Treasury yields, which tend to move inversely with risk assets like Bitcoin.
"I am watching Friday's payrolls and the 14 October CPI mainly for their effect on longer-dated yields. I use a 10-year real yield of about 3% as a monitoring level, and a sustained move above it would make a retest of $80,000 to $82,000 more likely than a run at $90,000," said Oliver Carding, head of marketing at Tesseract Group, which manages $500 million in assets.
Markets now price in roughly a 30% chance of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in October, down from 70% last month, after comments from New York Fed President John Williams and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson reduced expectations for further hikes. A stronger-than-expected jobs report could revive those rate-hike bets and put pressure on Bitcoin.
Why the market shifts matter
The combination of rising Bitcoin dominance, falling stablecoin share, and increasing leveraged positions paints a picture of traders growing more confident in the short term. However, the spike in liquidations and funding rates also signals that positions are crowded and vulnerable to sharp moves if the jobs data surprises to the upside.
Newisty Editorial Team covers technology, cryptocurrency, digital products, online platforms, developer tools and the wider digital economy. Our content is researched from official sources, company announcements, public documentation, market data and other primary or reputable sources. Articles are reviewed and edited before publication for clarity, accuracy and useful context.