Crypto Rally Hardens as Weak Jobs Report Kills Fed Hike Bets

Crypto is closing the week in its strongest position since June after a soft U.S. jobs print dismantled the case for another Fed rate hike, dragging Nasdaq 100 futures up 1.9% and pulling Bitcoin back to $61,600, a 6.5% rebound from Tuesday's $57,750 low. The macro tailwind did not act alone: Ether dominated the derivatives tape, accounting for $160 million of the $417 million in 24-hour liquidations as heavily bearish positioning was forcibly squeezed, and Open Interest climbed to 14.31 million ETH, the highest since June 10, alongside annualized funding near 10% and the strongest 24-hour cumulative volume delta among majors.

Why it matters

The combination is unusual. Macro relief (lower-rate probability), positioning unwind (record ETH short squeeze), and a derivatives structure leaning bullish (calls dominating Deribit flow at the $60K-$70K BTC strikes and the $2,500 ETH call) rarely line up in the same week. Implied volatility on both BTC and ETH is sliding as the June pop fades, meaning options markets are pricing calm rather than hedging another leg down. DOGE futures are echoing the ETH setup, with Open Interest at 14.13 billion tokens, the highest since May 16, a sign leveraged demand is rebuilding beyond just the majors.

Market impact

Uniswap was the standout altcoin, jumping 11% on doubled daily volume to $320 million after its confirmation as the primary AMM for Robinhood's layer-2 chain, the structural win the token has been digesting since the July 1 announcement. Solana extended a 17% weekly run to $80, while AI tokens FET, RENDER and TAO added 1.5%-2.3% on the day after weeks of selling pressure. The wider market is not out of the woods: CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index sits at 46, and BTC still needs to reclaim $67,000 then $81,000 to break the lower-high, lower-low structure that has defined the drawdown.