Bitcoin was fluctuating around US$20,000, while Ether was among the biggest gainers in the cryptocurrency top 10 by market capitalization in early Friday morning trading in Asia. Most other tokens on the list were little changed, though Cardano rose.
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Fast facts
- Bitcoin rose 0.4% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$20,121 as of 8 a.m. in Hong Kong, after dropping as low as US$19,653 at one point earlier in the morning. Ether gained 2.2% to US$1,586, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
- Cardano posted the biggest gain in CoinMarketCap’s top 10, adding 2.5% to change hands at US$0.45, while BNB fell 0.2% to US$278.46.
- Sitting just outside that list, MATIC, the native token for the Polygon network, jumped 6.6% to US$0.88 after trading platform Robinhood announced Thursday it will offer deposit and withdrawal services for the token. MATIC has risen more than 7% over the past week.
- U.S. equities were mixed Thursday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%, the S&P 500 Index added 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.3%.
- Investors await the release of the U.S. August jobs report due out Friday morning U.S. Eastern Time. The job market is a key consideration for the Federal Reserve at its meeting in September where it will announce its next interest rate decision. The report is expected to show job growth slowed slightly in August, but remained strong across many sectors.
- Loreta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, said the Fed may raise rates to 4% by early 2023 and they could remain there for some time. She spoke at an event organized by the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. The rates are currently at 2.25% to 2.50%.
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