Crypto Market Recap Sep 4: Bitcoin Back Under $80,000 USD as Jobs Shock Revives Hike Risk
Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $79,769.98 USD late Friday afternoon, down 1.85% on the day, one session after US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest buying day since January. Ethereum (ETH) fell 2.17% to $2,453.64 USD, leaving the crypto market lower across the board after a single American data release reset the week’s macro assumptions.
The trigger landed at 8:30 a.m. ET. US nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation release, against a consensus of roughly +56,000. The print came in above the entire forecast range, which ran from -25,000 to +121,000. Bitcoin was still above $81,000 USD before the release, at $81,111.46 USD as of 6:05 a.m. ET. By late afternoon it was roughly $1,340 USD below that level.
That leaves this week with an awkward pairing. The biggest day of ETF buying since mid-January was Thursday. The price gave part of it back on Friday, on one payrolls number.
What the jobs report actually said
Beyond the headline count, the report gave the Federal Reserve two more things to look at. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% month over month and 3.1% year over year, slightly above the 3.0% consensus.
The Fed decides on September 15-16. Before this morning’s release, markets were pricing just under 50/50 odds of a hike at that meeting. A payrolls figure roughly three times consensus, with wage growth a touch hot, keeps a September hike squarely on the table and leaves the decision to next week’s US August CPI report. Fed Governor Waller said on Thursday that he would back a hold if disinflation continues and a hike if August CPI runs hot. Thursday’s crypto rally was priced on the hold half of that sentence. Friday’s tape moved toward the hike half.
Canada’s own labour data landed the same morning and pointed the opposite way. The economy lost 42,000 jobs against expectations of a 15,000 gain, with the unemployment rate steady at 6.4%. That divergence is the cleanest explanation for the loonie’s day, and if you want the full Canadian picture, our Canada jobs report for August covers the survey in detail. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.4% at its worst this morning and sat at $0.7227 USD by late afternoon.
That currency move is why Canadian holders saw a smaller decline than the US-dollar screens showed. Bitcoin was at $110,339.58 CAD, down 1.55%, against 1.85% in USD terms. Ethereum was at $3,394.29 CAD, down 1.86%, against 2.17% in USD terms. A weaker loonie cushions a falling US-dollar asset, and it works in reverse on the way up.
Thursday’s ETF buying, and what it could not hold
The flow data makes the contrast sharp. US spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in a net $730.87 million USD on Thursday, “their largest daily inflow since Jan. 14 and the third-biggest single-session total of the year,” according to SoSoValue data reported by Bitcoin.com News. Bitcoin sat at $81,385.86 USD in our Thursday 5:05 p.m. ET snapshot, up 5.29% on that day, and Thursday’s recap covers the rally this session has partly unwound.
| Fund | Net flow, Thursday September 3 (USD) |
|---|---|
| IBIT | +$453.96M |
| ARKB | +$137.74M |
| FBTC | +$74.45M |
| Bitcoin Mini Trust | +$48.79M |
| BITB | +$24.76M |
| Net, all US spot Bitcoin ETFs | +$730.87M |
Source: SoSoValue data via Bitcoin.com News, September 3, 2026. Top five funds by inflow; GBTC (+$8.22M) and MSBT (+$7.71M) also took money in, while HODL (-$19.58M) and BTCW (-$5.16M) saw outflows.
One fund did most of the work. IBIT alone accounted for more than 60% of the net figure, and the top three funds covered close to 91% of it. US spot Ethereum ETFs took in a net $141.39 million USD the same day, recovering from Wednesday’s $48.08 million USD outflow.
Friday’s flow data is not published yet, so there is nothing to say about whether buyers stepped in or stepped back during today’s decline.
The third leg of this week’s flow-versus-macro test
Put the week in order and a pattern shows up.
Ethereum ETFs ran a 12-day inflow streak that did not lift the price. The streak broke on Wednesday, and ETH then jumped 4.61% on Thursday, which we covered in our piece on the Ethereum ETF streak ending as ETH rallied. Now the largest Bitcoin ETF inflow day since January has been followed by a down session driven by a jobs report.
Three legs, one reading: daily ETF flows are not the marginal price-setter right now. Macro is. On each occasion this week, the direction of the price tracked the rate story rather than the flow number, and Friday is the cleanest example, because the flow number was the biggest one in almost eight months.
The caveats matter as much as the observation. One Friday is not a trend, and a single session of macro-driven selling says nothing about where the next month goes. ETF flows are a slow structural accumulation channel rather than a day-trading signal, and $730.87 million USD of net buying does not disappear because the price fell the following day. What this week does suggest is that reading daily flow prints as a timing tool means watching a slower instrument than the one setting the tape.
How the rest of the market took it
Traditional markets absorbed the same print with far less movement. As of 3:30 p.m. ET, the S&P 500 was down 0.42%, the Nasdaq 0.32%, and the TSX 0.31%. Crypto moved several times that on the same headline, which is a difference in volatility rather than a different reading of the data.
What to watch next
Next week’s US August CPI report is now the deciding data point for the September 15-16 Fed decision, on the framework Waller laid out on Thursday. If disinflation shows up in that report, the hold case that drove Thursday’s rally comes back into view. If it runs hot, the hike case that drove Friday’s decline gets stronger. On the evidence of this week, that release will matter more to Bitcoin’s next move than the flow tables will.
Crypto trades continuously, so the prices above are a 5:05 p.m. ET snapshot rather than a closing level. Equity and index figures are late-afternoon prints taken at 3:30 p.m. ET, not official closes.
Data as of 5:05 p.m. ET, September 4, 2026.
Disclaimer: The content on bestcanadianstocks.ca is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Market data as of 5:05 pm ET, September 4, 2026.
