Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP Dive as Rate Cut Hopes Fade, Liquidations Near $1 Billion

Bitcoin extended its recent slide Thursday, diving below the $87,000 mark for the first time since April as traders weighed the prospects of a third rate cut this year following the delayed release of September jobs data.

The price of Bitcoin has fallen as low as $86,520 on the day, with a nearly 3% daily fall that’s extended the leading cryptocurrency’s weekly dive to 13.5% as of this writing.

Bitcoin has plunged by 31% since setting a new all-time high mark above $126,000 in early October.

Overall crypto market liquidations have surged over the past hour, currently sitting at $933 million across all crypto assets over the last 24 hours, per CoinGlass. Bitcoin leads the losses on the day, with $380 million worth of liquidated positions, followed by Ethereum at $239 million.

Ethereum and XRP are showing slightly sharper daily losses, both down about 3% as of this writing to prices of $2,827 and $2.00, respectively. ETH is down 15% over the past week, with XRP’s loss in the same period nearing 18%.

Stocks are similarly falling on the day, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both showing losses in excess of 1% as of this writing.

Optimism over a potential December rate cut—which Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell tried to temper hype for in late October—has fallen in recent days, with analysts and traders now betting against cuts.

According to CME’s FedWatch tool, just 37.6% of interest rate traders expect a 25 bps cut in December, while over 62% expect no change. The odds were effectively even just one week ago. On prediction market Polymarket, the odds show a similar spread, with a 63% likelihood of no change, flipping on late Tuesday as optimism faded.

September’s delayed U.S. jobs report, issued Thursday following last week’s government reopening, shows that the country added 119,000 jobs during the month. That’s better than expected, but analysts have said the report doesn’t provide clarity for traders.

“The September jobs report is a mixed bag,” wrote Navy Federal Credit Union Chief Economist Heather Long on X. “It’s encouraging that more people are looking for work (the labor force grew +470,000). But more people are also unemployed now (+219,000).”

“The Fed probably won’t cut in December,” she added.

Editor’s note: This story is breaking and will be updated with additional detail.