On Thursday, the cryptocurrency market saw notable gains, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and other leading coins experiencing price increases, while short positions dominated the recent liquidations.
Bitcoin broke the $62,000 threshold early Thursday, reaching $62,078, recovering from a 21-month low of under $58,000 earlier this week. At its latest price of $61,808, Bitcoin has risen approximately 3% for the day and 4% over the past week.
Similarly, other prominent cryptocurrencies are witnessing gains, with Ethereum and Solana both increasing by nearly 5% today, currently priced at $1,701 and $81 respectively. Solana stands out as the top performer among the leading cryptocurrencies this week, having surged over 22%. XRP has also seen a rise of more than 3%, now trading at $1.09.
In terms of liquidations, the cryptocurrency market recorded a significant $602 million in liquidations within the past day, according to data from CoinGlass. Notably, Ethereum surpassed Bitcoin as the largest contributor to this figure, with $187 million in liquidations compared to Bitcoin's $184 million. Overall, short liquidations accounted for $400 million of the total.
This positive market shift follows remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh on Wednesday, who refrained from confirming any anticipated interest rate hikes later this year. As of now, interest rate traders are weighing nearly equal chances of the Fed maintaining its current rates or implementing a hike at the upcoming September meeting, with a projected 64% likelihood of a rate increase by the FOMC's October meeting, according to CME's FedWatch.
Additionally, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that job additions in June were significantly below expectations, with only 57,000 jobs added versus a forecast of 115,000, a drop from May's revised figure of 129,000.
In the wake of this news, stock market performance has been mixed; while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have both declined, the Dow Jones remains in positive territory, as reported by Yahoo Finance.
In the crypto stock market, several major players are experiencing gains today, including MicroStrategy (MSTR), which has risen nearly 7% to $100 per share after hitting nearly $80 last week, Coinbase (COIN) is up 3.35% to $165, and USDC stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) has increased by almost 5% to $65.