Bitcoin rises but remains below US$20,000; Ether gains, XRP leads crypto top 10

Bitcoin has gained slightly but was still trading below US$20,000 on Monday morning in Asia, having fallen below that support line late last week after fluctuating around that level for most of the past month. Ether and the rest of the crypto top 10 by market capitalization also rose slightly, with XRP seeing by far the most gains.

Fast facts

• Bitcoin rose 0.1% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$19,439 at 8 a.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether fell 0.5% to US$1,321, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
• XRP gained 3.4% to change hands at US$0.53, bringing its gains for the past seven days to 18.9%, by far the most for any token in CoinMarketCap’s top 10. These gains come amid a series of positive developments for Ripple Labs Inc., the firm whose payment network is powered by XRP, in its ongoing lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Most other tokens were trading higher, though were little changed. Dogecoin rose 0.8% to US$0.06, Solana was up 0.1% at US$32.90 and BNB gained 0.7% to US$278.
• U.S. equities closed lower in Friday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.1%, the S&P 500 Index dropped 2.8% and the Nasdaq Composite Index finished the day down 3.8%, leaving the tech-dominated index less than 1% above its low for the year.
• These losses followed news that the U.S. economy had added 263,000 jobs in September, while the employment rate fell from 3.7% to 3.5%, according to data the Labor Department released on Friday. The tight labor market suggested the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tackle inflation through raising interest rates has not been as effective as hoped.
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said the central bank will continue to raise interest rates until a target inflation rate of 2% is achieved, even if it risks pushing the economy into a recession. Inflation in the U.S. is running at 8.3% for the 12 months ending in August. Market analysts at CME Group are predicting an 82% chance the Fed will raise rates by a further 75 basis points at its next meeting in November.