Jobs Report Rocks Bitcoin: $1.75 Billion in Liquidations as Rate Hike Bets Resurface

Bitcoin bounces to $63,800 after plunging below $60k, but rate hike expectations, $1.75B in liquidations, and $4.4B ETF outflows signal prolonged bearish pressure.

Bitcoin’s recovery from last week’s plunge below $60,000 has been tentative at best, with the largest cryptocurrency still nursing wounds from a brutal selloff triggered by a blockbuster US jobs report. The May payrolls data landed with 172,000 new positions — nearly double the consensus estimate of 85,000 — and ripped the rug out from under the disinflation narrative that had been propping up risk assets.

The labor market strength has fundamentally shifted interest-rate expectations. According to Polymarket, traders now price a 52% chance that the Federal Reserve will raise rates before year-end, while BNP Paribas forecasts as many as three hikes starting in December. That is a toxic backdrop for Bitcoin, which thrives in a low-rate environment. The secondary market is pricing a 70% probability that the Fed will not cut at all in 2026. Capital is rotating out of speculative digital assets into traditional safe havens and, increasingly, artificial intelligence stocks. Alphabet alone is reportedly planning an $80 billion investment program, sucking further liquidity away from crypto.

The immediate fallout was a cascade of forced selling. Across all crypto markets, roughly $1.75 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated within 24 hours, with Bitcoin longs accounting for more than $617 million of that total. Whale activity accelerated the rout: large holders doubled their monthly transfers to centralized exchanges, indicating preparation for further selling or hedging. The ETF market hemorrhaged cash as well, with US spot Bitcoin products logging 13 consecutive days of net outflows totaling $4.4 billion. A brief pause on June 4 offered a flicker of relief, but the following day BlackRock’s IBIT fund alone lost another $214 million, pushing total daily ETF outflows to nearly $326 million. Assets under management across these products have cratered from over $107 billion in mid-May to roughly $75 billion.

Even Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), Bitcoin’s most vocal corporate champion, signaled a subtle shift. The company sold 32 bitcoins between May 26 and 31 for about $2.5 million to fund dividend payments — its first sale since 2022. While a marginal move relative to its 843,706-coin hoard, analysts took it as a crack in the “unlimited accumulation” narrative.

Technically, the damage is severe. Bitcoin pierced its 200-week moving average near $61,800 for the first time since the 2022 bear market. The relative strength index sank to 15.31, deep in oversold territory, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index plunged to 16 — “Extreme Fear.” The immediate low of $59,228 marked a 52-week trough, from which the price has since bounced to around $63,800. That is still nearly 50% below the all-time high of $126,080 set in October 2025. The total crypto market capitalization has halved from roughly $4.2 trillion to $2.1 trillion.

On the chart, the next resistance sits at $60,921, with a key support zone at $55,000, a level last tested in early 2024. A more durable floor will depend on macro conditions, but Washington is offering a potential long-term catalyst. SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins has unveiled a strategic plan for the agency through 2030 that explicitly targets digital assets for a principles-based framework, moving away from the enforcement-heavy approach of prior years. The Clarity Act, currently pending in the Senate, could provide the regulatory certainty needed to draw institutional capital back into the space. For now, however, the macro headwinds are blowing too strong for that to matter.