ETH Plunges 3.1% Amid Macro Shock and ETF Outflows

Ethereum's price dropped by 3.1% over the last 7 hours following a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report, which impacted risk assets and rate expectations.

The report showed nonfarm payrolls rising only 29k versus an 89k forecast and unemployment ticking to 4.2 percent, boosting the odds the Federal Reserve holds rates at the next meeting.

Bitcoin dropped from about $86,500 to $84,600, while Ethereum consolidated around $2,685, before ETH went from about $2,746 at 2:00pm UTC to roughly $2,668 by 8:00pm UTC, a decline of about 2.9 percent.

ETH's Q3 rally was significant, up 70.6%, but this also meant it was overextended and susceptible to a pullback. Meanwhile, U.S. spot ether ETFs had already started to bleed, with net outflows totaling about $117.8 million over the most recent three sessions.

Positioning and sentiment made ETH more fragile, helping translate macro and flow pressures into price action during this period. Social sentiment for ETH had already turned negative at the start of October, with bearish posts outnumbering bullish ones.