Markets
What to know:
- Bitcoin and crypto drifted at the market open, like dancers in a corridor of clocks, then stubbornly tucked back above $69,000, as if the dream of seventy thousand could not be hurried away by a mere tick of the minute hand.
- Analysts say bitcoin’s latest retreat-the sharpest since the 2024 halving-happened on light spot volumes, suggesting retail folk paused for tea while the big gamblers with borrowed wings pulled the strings behind the curtain.
- Wednesday will bring January’s jobs data, and two Trump administration officials hinted the numbers might be weaker than forecast-a plot twist no one asked for, yet somehow everyone expects.
Following the familiar pattern, crypto markets fell as U.S. stocks opened on Tuesday, then recovered most of those losses with a speed that would make a caffeinated sparrow dizzy.
In mid-morning trade, bitcoin stood at $69,200, a touch down from 24 hours prior. Ether underperformed, down 1.8%, with XRP and Solana showing similar wear from the market’s little drama club.
While bitcoin’s drawdown is the most significant since the 2024 halving, trading volume stayed low, implying retail investors stepped back while leveraged derivatives danced the price around like a moonlit marionette.
“The market [is now] approaching critical technical support levels that will determine whether the four-year cycle framework remains intact,” Kaiko research analyst Laurens Fraussen wrote in a report Tuesday.
Trading firm Wintermute expects bitcoin to remain in the current range as it’s still in price discovery-a traveler with a map that keeps changing its route.
Recent bitcoin moves have been driven by leveraged derivatives rather than spot demand, the firm said, with light spot volumes leaving prices sensitive to crowded positions. Wintermute pointed to last Friday’s rebound as a short squeeze in perpetual futures and said the return of volatility caught investors off guard after a spell of complacency.
January jobs report on tap
Originally scheduled for last Friday, the government’s January Nonfarm Payrolls Report is now coming out on Wednesday morning due to the brief federal shutdown last month.
Economist forecasts are for 70,000 jobs to have been added, up from 50,000 in December. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.4%.
White House trade counselor Peter Navarro, however, said in a Fox interview Tuesday that expectations need to be revised lower. His comments follow those of White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, who advised markets not to panic on weak jobs data.
Those remarks appear to have been noted by the bond market, where the 10-year Treasury yield is lower by 5 basis points to 4.14%. Lower interest rates and looser Federal Reserve policy are typically thought to be good for assets like bitcoin, but this cycle has a stubborn sense of humor, with bitcoin plunging even as the Fed has trimmed rates by 75 basis points in recent months.
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2026-02-10 19:49