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

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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’ 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.

Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) is a broad-based index designed to measure the market capitalization weighted performance of the digital asset market subject to minimum trading and exchange eligibility requirements.

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