Bitcoin Spikes Toward $87,000, Then Gives It Back After A Weak September Jobs Report
Bitcoin pushed toward $87,000 on Friday morning as a wave of short liquidations tore through leveraged traders, then slipped back under $86,000 once a much weaker than expected September jobs report hit the tape.
A SQUEEZE, THEN A WEAK JOBS REPORT
Bitcoin briefly touched $86,885 ahead of the September employment report before the data landed at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. The numbers were ugly: payrolls rose by just 29,000, far below the roughly 90,000 economists had forecast, and the unemployment rate climbed to 4.2% from 4.1%.
CoinGlass data showed more than $120 million in Bitcoin short positions wiped out over 24 hours as price pushed toward $87,000. On the show, hosts cited a higher figure off their own CoinGlass read that morning, $172 million, for the same stretch, a reminder that liquidation totals shift depending on the exact window a platform is measuring.
The move fit a pattern traders have been watching for weeks: Bitcoin cleared its prior sell wall near $85,000 after a chunk of the resting sell orders at that level were pulled rather than filled, leaving less resistance behind. A similar, smaller wall has been sitting around $87,000.
ETF BUYERS ARE STILL SHOWING UP
Spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in roughly $2.65 billion in net inflows during September, according to SoSoValue data, the strongest monthly total since August and part of a third straight monthly gain for Bitcoin. On the show, hosts framed the same September buying in coin terms, pointing to roughly 30,000 BTC of net ETF demand for the month.
The flows have not been one-directional. SoSoValue data also showed the ETF group closing out the month with a roughly $149 million net outflow day, a sign that demand is still swinging session to session rather than running in a straight line.
ONE SOVEREIGN FUND IS TRADING GOLD FOR BITCOIN
Bitwise's first Institutional Crypto Adoption Report, based on interviews with senior staff at 15 large institutions, found that at least one sovereign wealth fund has been selling gold and foreign exchange reserves to fund Bitcoin purchases. Bitwise Head of Research Ryan Rasmussen disclosed the finding on September 29.
The report's bigger data point: during Bitcoin's roughly 50% drawdown from near $125,000 in late 2025 to around $60,000 in mid-2026, none of the 15 institutions surveyed reported cutting their Bitcoin holdings, and several added to their positions. Allocations across the group ranged from 0.5% up to 13% of investable assets, with most institutions sitting closer to 1-2%.
WHAT THE NEXT LEVEL ACTUALLY MEANS
21Shares strategist Matt Mena pointed to $87,000 as the level that has capped Bitcoin for most of the year, with $90,000 and then $97,000 as the next markers if that resistance finally breaks. The same soft jobs data that briefly boosted Bitcoin also pushed the odds of an October Fed rate hike down to around 13%, from closer to 25% earlier in the week.
None of that locks in a move to $90,000. What it does is hand bulls a concrete reason, a cooling labor market and a Fed less likely to tighten, to test the level that has rejected every rally attempt since September.
This story comes from the Simply Bitcoin Live show. Watch the full episode.
