First Mover Americas: It’s Payrolls Day Again, and Bitcoin Holds Tight Near $20K

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Price Point

Bitcoin (BTC) dipped below the $20,000 mark Friday, down almost 1% on the day, as traders in both crypto and stock markets awaited September’s jobs report in the U.S.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value has spent the last four months hovering around the $20,000 mark with little movement either side.

“This could be really important for bitcoin that it has found a base around $20,000 that traders are seemingly comfortable with in these turbulent times,” wrote Craig Erlam, an analyst at Oanda, in a morning note. “It now looks like a very strong region of support that's been reinforced with every test below.”

Erlam said there could well be a case for this level forming a bottom for the cryptocurrency but, of course, another risk-off panic could put this theory to test.

Ether (ETH) was also trading down on the day slightly, but has been slowly making its way back up after the post-Merge drop.

A blockchain linked to the big crypto exchange Binance ordered a suspension on Thursday, after an estimated $100 million to $110 million in assets were moved off chain.

BNB Chain, composed of BNB Beacon Chain and BNB Smart Chain, tweeted the suspension on BSC from its official account, later confirming that the activity stemmed from a “potential exploit.”

Some $7 million of the total crypto has already been frozen.

BNB token is down 3.35%.

In the news, Citigroup’s director of blockchain and digital assets is leaving the U.S. bank to take a role at Six Digital Exchange, according to his LinkedIn page.

A report from Morgan Stanley said the market for cryptocurrency exchange products continues to grow, a sign that institutional interest in the digital assets sector remains strong despite concerns of a crypto winter.

Crypto lender Celsius Network’s top executives withdrew a little over $17 million in cryptocurrency between May and June 2022, right before the company suspended withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy, new court records show.

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Chart of the Day

US Wage Growth May Be the Most Important Figure for Risk Assets

By Omkar Godbole

• An expected slowdown in the headline nonfarm payrolls (NFP) report may do little to bring relief to risk unless accompanied by a meaningful deceleration in the average hourly earnings.