Bitcoin climbed to $113,000 on Friday, its highest level since Aug. 28, as traders positioned ahead of the U.S. jobs report. The move produced the first higher high since bitcoin’s mid‑August all‑time peak near $124,000 and pushed BTC’s market dominance toward a two‑week high of almost 59%, up from roughly 57.5% earlier in the week.
A higher high in technical terms means the price has eclipsed a recent short‑term peak and can signal a bullish reversal if followed by sustained volume. The rise in dominance suggests renewed capital flows back into bitcoin, reversing a recent rotation where some large holders favored ether and other altcoins.
The short‑term rally also coincided with a large options expiry on Deribit: options with a notional value of about $3.28 billion expired at 08:00 UTC, with the platform’s calculated max pain level at $112,000. The max pain theory holds that as expiry approaches, market participants with big option positions may trade the underlying to push the spot price toward the strike that inflicts maximum loss on option buyers.
Bitcoin briefly traded above $112,000 in the hours before expiry, aligning closely with that theory. Institutional sellers are often credited with this behavior in traditional markets, though many crypto traders remain wary of applying the same logic to bitcoin without caveats given different liquidity profiles and on‑chain dynamics.
Traders are now focused on the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, due at 08:30 ET, which could drive fresh volatility. Volatility could create short‑term trading opportunities but also raises downside risks for leveraged positions; this article is informational, not investment advice.
What to watch next: BTC’s dominance level, post‑expiry price action, and whether inflows stay concentrated in bitcoin or rotate back into altcoins as macro signals evolve.
Source: CoinDesk. Read the original coverage for full details.