February 11 News, due to the market's high attention to the upcoming release of the U.S. January non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate, Bitcoin prices have sharply retreated to around $66,000 in the past 24 hours. The dollar and U.S. Treasury yields are moving in sync, with Wall Street generally believing that employment may rebound, which would weaken the Federal Reserve's possibility of cutting interest rates in June, thereby putting pressure on risk assets including Bitcoin. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release the January employment report today. Economists expect non-farm payrolls to increase by about 70,000, higher than December's 50,000, indicating that the labor market, while slowing, remains resilient. The forecast range varies from a decrease of 10,000 jobs to an increase of 135,000, with the unemployment rate possibly remaining at 4.4%. Average hourly earnings are expected to grow by 0.3% month-over-month, with the annual growth rate slowing to 3.6%.

XRP price extended its downtrend to $1.35 as Bitcoin weakness and whale transfers totaling 291 million XRP fueled selling pressure. Yet a CME gap sits 27% above current prices at $1.74, historically a magnet for price recovery. With a pivotal Senate vote on the Clarity Act scheduled and extreme fear gripping the market, we analyze whether XRP fills the gap or breaks lower first.