Bitcoin reclaimed the $61,000 level in early Saturday Asian trading after dipping below $60,000 overnight, a recovery that underscores the cryptocurrency’s vulnerability to shifts in Federal Reserve expectations. The move came as a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report on Friday rippled through financial markets, forcing traders to reprice interest rate assumptions upward and triggering a broad-based selloff that hit equities, bonds and digital assets simultaneously.

According to reporting by CoinDesk, the token fell as low as $59,227 before buyers returned, eventually settling near $61,000 — down roughly 1.3% on the day. The recovery from such depths signals that the $60,000 level remains a key support zone, though traders remain divided on whether Bitcoin can sustain above it or faces a deeper test in the weeks ahead.

Fed Rate Expectations Shift Markets

The catalyst for Friday’s rout was straightforward but consequential. Nonfarm payrolls came in stronger than expected, a data point that normally signals economic resilience. Instead, markets interpreted the strength as forestalling the interest rate cuts that had been priced in under newly confirmed Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh.

Interest rate swaps immediately repriced to fully reflect a rate increase by year-end 2026 — a dramatic reversal from the easing cycle traders had anticipated. Two-year Treasury yields jumped 12 basis points to 4.16%, the dollar surged, and risk assets sold off hard. The Nasdaq 100 fell roughly 5%, marking its steepest decline since April 2025. Chipmakers fared worse, dropping 10% as the artificial intelligence trade faced particular pressure.

Bitcoin, which had been sliding toward $60,000 all week amid record ETF outflows and a sovereign seller in the form of a government entity, took the full brunt of the risk-off move. Yet the breach below $60,000 proved temporary. The $1,500 bounce from the overnight low suggests that some investors were waiting for precisely this weakness to add exposure.

Leverage Unwind Across Altcoins

The broader digital asset market absorbed heavier losses. Ether tumbled 21.6% over the week to around $1,575. Solana fell 23.7% to $63. XRP, Dogecoin and BNB all retreated between 13% and 20%.

The liquidation cascade was severe. Across roughly 308,000 traders, approximately $1.60 billion in positions were wiped out in a single 24-hour period, according to CoinGlass data. Long positions accounted for $1.21 billion of those losses — a telling sign that retail and leveraged traders had overwhelmingly positioned themselves for further upside before Friday’s reversal.

Bitcoin contributed $534 million of the total liquidations, while Ether added $423 million. Zcash, which collapsed 44% owing to a disclosed vulnerability in its Orchard privacy pool, logged another $115 million in cascading liquidations.

Critical Support or Further Breakdown

The question facing traders now is whether Bitcoin’s bounce from $59,227 represents genuine buyers returning or merely a relief rally before a fresh breakdown. A clean break below $60,000 on a retest would push the token back into territory not seen since February’s significant drawdown — a level that would test investor confidence in the asset’s longer-term resilience.

The coming days will reveal whether Fed policy expectations have stabilized or whether additional economic data could spark another round of repricing. For now, Bitcoin’s recovery above $61,000 suggests the key support level is holding, but the path forward depends entirely on whether rate expectations cement or shift again.