Bitcoin Stays Below $80,000 After Jobs Data Revives Rate Hike Bets

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Bitcoin was trading near $79,800 on Saturday, September 6, according to Investing.com, after pulling back from a three-month high above $82,000 reached Thursday.

The retreat followed stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data that raised fresh expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate increase at its September 15-16 meeting.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls grew by 162,000 in August, well above the 56,000 gain economists surveyed by Reuters had projected. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, while annual wage growth eased slightly to 3.1%.

Jobs Report Shifts Rate Hike Odds

Rate futures briefly priced in about a 65% chance of a September hike before settling in the 57%-59% range, up from roughly 52% before the payrolls release, Investing.com reported.

Treasury yields and the dollar moved higher alongside that shift, weighing on Bitcoin and other risk-sensitive assets.

Bloomberg reported that Bitcoin fell as much as 3.5% on the day, touching a low of $78,649, alongside declines in stocks and bonds.

Fed Governor's Earlier Comments Had Lifted Bitcoin

The jobs-driven selloff reversed part of a rally sparked by remarks from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller. Waller indicated, according to Investing.com, that he could back leaving rates unchanged in September if August inflation data continued to improve.

Those comments had pushed Bitcoin to its highest intraday level since May and sent the broader crypto market up roughly $112 billion, according to Bitcoin Foundation.

Bitcoin had rebounded from below $77,000 to above $81,000 during that earlier move, with Ethereum, XRP, and Solana also gaining.

ETF Inflows Cushion the Drop

Institutional demand through spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds continued to provide support.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs drew $174.6 million in net inflows on September 4, extending their inflow streak to three consecutive sessions and bringing the cumulative three-day total to approximately $1.01 billion, Investing.com reported.

The September 4 figure was well below the $730.87 million recorded the previous session, which was the strongest single-day inflow of that stretch.

The $82,000-$83,000 range has emerged as near-term resistance after the latest breakout attempt failed to hold.

CPI Data Due This Week

The Block reported that U.S. Consumer Price Index data is due later this week and will be closely watched, given that Fed rate hike odds for September now sit around 60%.

Governor Waller had tied his position to whether inflation continued to cool, making the upcoming CPI release the next significant data point for crypto markets.

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