Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies traded mostly higher on Monday, as softer U.S. employment data reduced expectations for another near-term Federal Reserve interest-rate increase, while Cardano led a sharp pocket of gains among major altcoins.
Bitcoin traded at $86,096.30, up 0.98 percent over 24 hours and 3.77 percent over seven days, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.73 trillion and 24-hour trading volume of $23.49 billion.
The broader digital-asset market remained close to the $3 trillion threshold. CoinMarketCap data put total market capitalization at around $2.91 trillion, with Bitcoin accounting for about 59 percent of the market and Ethereum for 11.3 percent.
CoinMarketCap’s Fear and Greed Index stood at 69, keeping market sentiment firmly in “greed” territory.
Bitcoin remained above $86,000 after weaker U.S. labor-market data changed expectations around the Federal Reserve’s next policy move. Live CoinMarketCap data continued to show the cryptocurrency trading above that threshold during Monday’s session.
Fed pressure eases
The latest U.S. employment report showed nonfarm payrolls increased by just 29,000 in September, while the unemployment rate stood at 4.2 percent, reinforcing evidence that hiring momentum has slowed.
The official Bureau of Labor Statistics release also showed that employment changed little across major industries during the month.
The weaker reading strengthened expectations that the Fed could leave interest rates unchanged at its October meeting instead of following September’s quarter-point increase with another tightening move.
Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson had already signaled a more patient approach in an October 1 speech, saying future policy adjustments should be determined by trends in the data, the evolving economic outlook and the balance of risks.
Jefferson said policymakers would need to reach their own judgment on the appropriate stance of policy and that doing so “may take more time.”
He nevertheless stressed that inflation remains too high and that risks to his inflation outlook remain tilted to the upside.
The Federal Open Market Committee raised the federal funds target range by 25 basis points to 3.75 percent-4 percent in September, a move Jefferson said he supported as appropriate for achieving the Fed’s employment and price-stability goals.
Reduced expectations for another immediate increase are generally supportive for cryptocurrencies because higher interest rates tend to raise the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding and risk-sensitive assets.
Major tokens advance
Ethereum traded at $2,716.07, gaining 0.54 percent over 24 hours and 2.26 percent over seven days, with a market capitalization of around $331.19 billion.
Live CoinMarketCap data subsequently kept Ether around the $2,700 level, with the token maintaining a positive 24-hour performance.
BNB rose 0.11 percent to $789.60 and remained 3.48 percent higher over seven days, while XRP advanced 1.25 percent to $1.5202, extending its weekly gain to 1.79 percent.
Solana slipped 0.46 percent to $120.718, although it remained 1.88 percent higher for the week. TRON gained 0.26 percent to $0.336497.
Hyperliquid climbed 2.61 percent to $92.8840 and was up 3.22 percent over seven days.
Dogecoin gained 3.20 percent to $0.096365, while Chainlink rose 0.33 percent to $14.172.
Monero moved in the opposite direction, falling 0.70 percent to $546.498.
Stellar advanced 2.55 percent to $0.22209, NEAR Protocol rose 2.90 percent to $5.0264, Bitcoin Cash declined 0.35 percent to $316.59, and Uniswap eased 0.39 percent to $9.0220.
The overall picture remained constructive but uneven, with some major tokens benefiting much more strongly than Bitcoin from renewed appetite for crypto risk.
Cardano leads rally
Cardano was the standout large-cap performer, surging 12.06 percent to $0.2747 and taking its seven-day gain to 10.93 percent.
Live CoinMarketCap data continued to show ADA around $0.27 and more than 10 percent higher over 24 hours later Monday.
The move comes amid renewed attention on institutional access to Cardano.
A September 9 prospectus supplement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF explicitly lists ADA among the fund’s eligible crypto assets.
The list also includes Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, Avalanche, Litecoin, Polkadot, Dogecoin, Hedera, Bitcoin Cash, Chainlink, Stellar, Shiba Inu, Sui, Hyperliquid, BNB and Zcash.
The filing also showed ADA with a 2.63 percent weighting in the fund’s performance benchmark as of August 31, alongside Bitcoin at 39.54 percent, Ether at 18.86 percent, BNB at 9.29 percent, XRP at 9.15 percent and Solana at 8.73 percent.
Elsewhere, Sui climbed 5.14 percent to $1.2387 and 5.20 percent over seven days.
Avalanche added 0.09 percent to $11.02, Hedera gained 1.56 percent to $0.10316, and Bittensor rose 0.89 percent to $303.92.
Altcoins remain mixed
Zcash remained one of the weaker major tokens, falling 1.33 percent to $1,314.24 and extending its seven-day decline to 15.82 percent.
Litecoin slipped 0.24 percent to $70.61, while Canton gained 2.65 percent to $0.12611.
GRAM advanced 0.65 percent to $1.5433 but remained 9.24 percent lower over seven days.
Shiba Inu climbed 4.90 percent to $0.00000598, while Cronos gained 0.72 percent to $0.06946.
Quant declined 1.55 percent to $254.38, although it retained a strong 15.93 percent seven-day gain.
Pump.fun rose 2.25 percent to $0.006442 and was up 34.25 percent over the week, among the strongest seven-day performances in the wider group.
Aave fell 0.85 percent to $178.72 but remained 21.13 percent higher over seven days.
Among dollar-linked tokens, Tether traded at $0.9998, USDC at $1.0002, Ethena USDe at $1.000, Dai at $0.99984, World Liberty Financial USD1 at $0.9998, Global Dollar at $1.0000 and PayPal USD at $1.0001, all staying close to their dollar pegs.
Tether Gold gained 0.35 percent to $4,155.50.
Institutional adoption grows
Institutional and wealth-management adoption also remained in focus after CoinShares published a new investor survey on Monday.
The CoinShares Affluent Investor Crypto Report surveyed 2,230 affluent investors in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland.
A majority of respondents held digital assets in every market, ranging from 54 percent in Sweden to around 70 percent in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Switzerland.
Average crypto allocations clustered around 10 percent of portfolios, according to CoinShares.
Bitcoin remained the anchor asset, held by 80 percent of digital-asset investors on average, while 89 percent of Bitcoin investors also owned other digital assets.
CoinShares also found that only 6 percent of current investors primarily identified as short-term traders, while strategic motivations such as long-term appreciation and diversification were more common.
