Bitcoin Recovers From Tech-Led Rout as Upcoming U.S. Jobs Report Takes Focus

Bitcoin recovered from Thursday’s sharp decline, rebounding from approximately $75,200 as investors assessed the fallout from the AI-driven stock market sell-off and awaited the latest U.S. employment figures. The previous session’s volatility triggered more than $1 billion in crypto liquidations, further weakening market confidence.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose 0.2% to around $76,150 from midnight UTC on Friday, recovering after touching a low near $75,200 late Thursday. Ether (ETH) gained 0.3%, while the CoinDesk 80 Index advanced 0.2%. Memecoins outperformed the broader market, with the CoinDesk Memecoin Index rising 4%.

The recovery came after a sharp downturn across U.S. equity markets on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite plunged 5.5% as investors considered whether Democrats controlling Congress could create obstacles for the expansion of AI data center infrastructure.

The stock market weakness also spilled into cryptocurrencies. Data from CoinGlass showed that leveraged crypto positions worth more than $1 billion were liquidated over 24 hours. Bitcoin fell 5.3% during that period, while Ether recorded a steeper 7.3% decline.

Institutional demand also showed signs of deterioration. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced significant outflows on Thursday. Fidelity’s FBTC recorded approximately $200 million in withdrawals, while BlackRock’s IBIT saw $105 million leave the fund, according to Farside Investors. The latest outflows extended IBIT’s withdrawal streak to five consecutive trading sessions.

Market participants are now focused on the U.S. employment report, due at 8:30 a.m. EST (13:30 UTC). Economists surveyed by FactSet expect the U.S. economy to have added 65,000 jobs in October, making the data an important catalyst for financial markets.

Bitcoin Derivatives Point to Cautious Positioning

Bitcoin futures open interest climbed to $22.1 billion from $21.8 billion, even as traders faced widespread liquidations across leveraged positions. Total liquidations reached $1.27 billion over the past 24 hours, including approximately $1.1 billion in long positions.

The rise in open interest indicates that some traders are rebuilding leveraged positions following the recent market shakeout. Funding rates experienced significant volatility, briefly dropping to an annualized negative 5% on Bybit before recovering to between 0% and 5% across other exchanges.

Meanwhile, the three-month futures basis remained relatively unchanged at 5.7%, suggesting that the broader futures market had not experienced a major shift in positioning.

Options markets, however, pointed to increasing concerns about further price declines. The 24-hour put-to-call volume ratio reached approximately 51:48 in favor of put options. At the same time, the one-week 25-delta skew increased to 15%, compared with roughly 11% a week earlier, indicating stronger demand for downside protection.

The implied volatility curve remained in contango. Short-term implied volatility approached 50% as traders priced in immediate market uncertainty, while longer-dated contracts extending through late 2027 remained between 38% and 40%.

Liquidation heatmap data also identified key price zones that could influence Bitcoin’s next move. Binance’s heatmap showed a substantial concentration of leveraged long positions between $74,000 and $75,000, leaving this area vulnerable to further liquidations if selling pressure returns.

On the upside, traders are monitoring the $76,800–$77,000 range as an important resistance zone that Bitcoin needs to overcome to extend its recovery.

WLFI Buyback Plan Lifts Token Despite Broader Losses

World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token gained approximately 3.5% after the Trump-backed crypto project revealed plans to expand its token buyback program.

The initiative will partly use fees generated by reserves supporting its USD1 stablecoin to finance additional token purchases. Despite the announcement, WLFI remains roughly 10% below its Tuesday level following the midterm elections and has lost more than 66% of its value this year. The official TRUMP token also recorded a fresh all-time low during the week.

Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies showed relative resilience during the broader market correction. Monero (XMR) declined 3.2% over 24 hours, outperforming Bitcoin, which dropped 5.3% over the same period.

Zcash (ZEC) also advanced approximately 1% after activating its NU7 network upgrade early Friday. The update reduced the targeted block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, accelerating the network’s block production schedule.

Meanwhile, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token continued to struggle, trading approximately 19% below its previous week’s peak of $96. The earlier rally was driven by an agreement between ICE and Trade[XYZ] to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures products to U.S. retail investors. However, enthusiasm surrounding the development has since faded.

Injective (INJ) emerged as one of the stronger performers this week, climbing 14%. The rally followed Nasdaq’s approval of a listing application for Canary Capital’s staked INJ ETF, according to an SEC filing.

Elsewhere, speculative appetite across the altcoin market continued to deteriorate. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index fell to 44 out of 100, marking its lowest level since September. The decline suggests investors remain cautious about smaller cryptocurrencies despite pockets of strength across selected altcoins.