Bitcoin price today: rebounds to $60k as risk sentiment improves

Investing.com-- Bitcoin price rose on Friday, tracking a surge in broader risk-driven markets as positive U.S. labor market helped soothe some concerns that a recession was imminent, with altcoin prices also rallying. 

Bitcoin rose nearly 7% to $60,916.2, paring some gains after rising as far as $61,712.3.

The token was also set for mild weekly gains after an over 10% tumble in the prior week. 

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency recouped a bulk of its losses this week, having slumped as far as $49,000 on Monday amid a broader market rout.

Bitcoin price up as recession, rate hike fears ease 

The token tracked a rally in broader markets, especially equities, as better-than-expected weekly jobless claims data fueled bets that a U.S. economic slowdown was not as imminent as initially feared.

Fears of a recession had battered risk-driven assets through last week and the first half of this week, spurred by data showing a sharp decline in nonfarm payrolls. 

Less hawkish comments from Bank of Japan officials also helped risk appetite improve, after the central bank hiked interest rates and flagged more increases during a meeting last week. 

BOJ officials said this week that the bank will not hike rates during periods of market volatility, helping improve sentiment. Losses in the Japanese yen also signaled a recovery in risk appetite. 

Crypto price today: XRP rally cools after SEC fine, but altcoins surge 

Among broader cryptocurrency markets, XRP fell after rallying sharply in the prior session as Ripple Labs, the issuer of the token, was slapped with a $125 million fine in a long-running lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

While the fine was a fraction of the reportedly $2 billion sought by the SEC, the ruling also saw Ripple slapped with an injunction requiring it to register any more security sales. 

Additionally, the case did not answer the long-running regulatory question of whether crypto tokens do qualify as securities. The SEC is also expected to potentially appeal an earlier ruling which said Ripple’s XRP sales to retail investors did not qualify as security sales. 

Barring XRP, broader altcoins surged in tandem with Bitcoin. World no.2 token Ether rose 10.6% to $2,681.80.

SOL and ADA rose 1.5% and 3.6%, respectively, while among meme tokens, DOGE added 4.7%.