Bitcoin slid below $80,000 on September 4 after a blowout U.S. jobs report revived bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike, yet the selloff came on the heels of a 25% August rally that still leav
Bitcoin slid below $80,000 on September 4 after a blowout U.S. jobs report revived bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike, yet the selloff came on the heels of a 25% August rally that still leaves sentiment firmly in greed territory, a reminder that the pullback looks macro-driven rather than structural.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 162,000 in August 2026, roughly triple the Wall Street consensus of about 53,000 and the strongest monthly gain since March. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, matching expectations, with about 7.0 million people out of work. For related coverage, see Bitcoin ETFs Rebound as Ethereum and XRP ETFs Lose Momentum.
Bitcoin reacted almost immediately, falling from a four-month high of $82,240 to an intraday low near $79,197, a drop of roughly 2% to 3% within minutes of the 8:30 a.m. ET release. The move erased an attempted breakout above $80,000 that had built through late August. For related coverage, see Bitcoin ETF Adds $100M as Solana, XRP, Ethereum ETFs Turn Red.
Bitcoin Intraday Low — Sept. 5, 2026
~$79,197
Down from a four-month high of $82,240 — a $3,000+ reversal triggered by the August jobs beat.
Source: Decrypt
The reversal cascaded through leveraged positions, triggering more than $415 million in crypto short liquidations and contributing to $757 million in total crypto liquidations on the day, underscoring how heavily traders had positioned for a continued push higher. By September 5, Bitcoin was trading near $79,659, down about 1.29% over 24 hours, with a market cap around $1.60 trillion.
Adding to the hawkish read, June and July payrolls were revised a combined 55,000 higher than previously reported. July's figure was the most striking, swinging from a reported loss of 23,000 jobs to a gain of 21,000, a 44,000-job revision that retroactively softened the labor-market weakness the Fed had been watching.
Strong employment data reduces the case for the Fed to ease and strengthens the argument for tighter policy. Higher interest rates raise the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like Bitcoin, and they tend to pressure the broader risk-asset complex, which is part of why crypto has recently moved in step with rate expectations, as seen when Bitcoin rallied toward $82,000 on dovish Fed signals.
Rate-hike odds repriced fast. CME FedWatch probabilities for a hike at the September 15-16 FOMC meeting jumped from 49.4% before the report to roughly 58% intraday and as high as 65.9% by later in the day, making a hike the market's base case for the first time in this cycle.
CME FedWatch — September Hike Probability
65.9%
Up from 49.4% before the August payrolls print — traders are now pricing a hike as the base case.
Source: Decrypt / CME FedWatch
The wage picture reinforced the hawkish tilt. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% month-over-month to $37.75 and 3.1% year-over-year, keeping pay growth elevated relative to the Fed's 2% inflation target and leaving policymakers with less room to declare victory.
The policy signals are not unanimous, however. Fed Governor Christopher Waller, speaking the day before the report, noted that he was inclined to support holding rates steady, a stance the strong payrolls figure now complicates. The tension between his cautious view and the incoming data illustrates why the September decision remains genuinely contested rather than settled.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, celebrated the data on Truth Social, writing that it was a "Great jobs number just announced, breaking all estimates," even as he continued to press the Fed for rate cuts, a contradiction that captures the political crosscurrents around the decision.
The next hard catalyst is the Consumer Price Index reading due September 11, followed by the Producer Price Index, both landing just before the FOMC meeting on September 15-16. With PCE inflation running at 3.7% on a 12-month basis, well above target, those prints are widely seen as decisive for whether the Fed hikes or holds.
Forecasters have turned more hawkish. According to reporting that has not been independently verified against official research notes, Barclays now projects two hikes in 2026 while BNP Paribas forecasts three beginning in December, which could return the federal funds rate to 4.25-4.50% by mid-2027, the same zone associated with Bitcoin's deepest historical drawdowns.
On the charts, the $79,000 area that produced Friday's low is the immediate level traders are watching; a decisive break below it would open the door to further downside, while a reclaim of $82,000 would suggest the breakout attempt is still intact. Bitcoin remains far from its all-time high of $126,080 set in October 2025.
The bull case still has data behind it. Bitcoin gained about 25% in August, its best August since 2017, driven by spot ETF inflows of $3.52 billion across 16 of 21 trading days, and the Fear & Greed Index remained at 73, or "Greed," even after the selloff, a sign institutional sentiment has not turned bearish. That resilience echoes prior episodes when Bitcoin recovered above $77,500 as hike odds eased.
The bear case is equally concrete: rising rate-hike odds, sticky wage growth, and the upward payroll revisions all point to a tighter Fed, and some analysts have warned a rate increase could pressure Bitcoin, gold, and stocks together. How that tension resolves will likely hinge on the September inflation data rather than on the jobs report alone.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.
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