Bitcoin BTC$112,409.79 It was stable at nearly $111,600 on Friday morning, showing relative resilience even as macro jitters lowered global risk assets. Ether (ETH) slipped 0.7% to $4,330, while Solana's Sol (SOL) added 1.3% to over $204. XRP XRP$2.8351 It was nearly $2.81, flat that day, but it rose 3.5% in a week.
This week's background is dominated by changing US labor data and the expectations of the Federal Reserve. The employment report on Friday is widely expected to show unemployment climbing and show bets on interest rate cuts in September. However, traders no longer expect an expansion mitigation cycle.
“The high unemployment rate indicates that the Fed is likely to cut interest rates in mid-September, but traders now believe that the remaining annual cuts will be limited in scope,” said Jeff May, BTSE COO. “The Fed is wary of introducing too many new money into the economy for fear of inflation. This is why gold has recovered while cryptocurrencies and stocks were falling.”
Gold touched on a fresh high of over $3,500 per ounce earlier this week. That parallelism only enhances the comparison between metal and bitcoin.
“Bitcoin has matured beyond just a speculative asset and is widely recognized as a value and hedge against currency collapse, fiscal instability and geopolitical risk,” said Vikrant Sharma, CEO of Cake Wallet in a telegram message.
“Volatility has decreased, but it has not disappeared. This can be understood in assets from over 10 years ago. The story has changed. This is not just a speculative asset, it is a strategic allocation,” he added.
Sharma added that periods of low volatility often precede major price movements. “Floors over $100,000 don't feel like Bitcoin is a high beta trade and feels like a global reserve asset in production,” he said.
Despite the headwinds, Bitcoin's advantage is solid. It still orders around 60% of the crypto-age market capitalization, which helps to stabilize emotions despite the altcoins shaking rapidly.
“Despite recent market volatility, Bitcoin has demonstrated significant resilience, falling only 3% while maintaining a 60% advantage,” Coinw's chief strategy officer, Nassar Achkar, said in an email.
“The Federal Reserve's potential rate cuts later this year, coupled with ongoing institutional adoption via ETFs and digital asset tokens, continue to provide strong fundamental support. Traders should be cautious about changes in policy that could drive short-term volatility,” added Achkar.
Mixed outlook comes among the vulnerabilities of the market heading towards September, historically the weakest month of codes.
