Bitcoin price lags behind stock rally as longest-ever US shutdown ends

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) traded flat over the past 24 hours, even as US equities surged to new all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a fresh record on Wednesday amid optimism that the record-long government shutdown could end with a late-night vote in Washington.

Read more: Crypto live prices

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC-USD) is holding steady around $103,663, while ether (ETH-USD) has climbed more than 3% in the past day to $3,541. Ethereum remains the dominant blockchain for stablecoin issuance, and trading volumes in the stablecoin market have risen significantly over the past year, signalling persistent demand for dollar-pegged crypto assets.

CCC - CoinMarketCap•USD

(BTC-USD)

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102,810.53

-1,745.21

(-1.67%)

As of 9:52:00 AM UTC. Market Open. Advanced Chart

Jasper De Maere, desk strategist at Wintermute, emphasised that bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) correlation with the US equity markets remains high, but it trades with a bearish skew, reacting more to pain than optimism. He noted that bitcoin continues to move in line with U.S. equity indices, though its reactions have become increasingly asymmetric.

“Bitcoin (BTC-USD) still moves with equities. The correlation stays high, but bitcoin reacts more to Nasdaq losses than gains. Bitcoin's performance skew has been structurally negative in 2025. Bitcoin falls harder on equity down days than it rises on up days, a pattern last seen in the ‘22 bear markets. This usually happens near bottoms, not tops,” De Maere said.

Read more: What’s making pension funds bet big on bitcoin?

On wall street, investors were buoyed by the end of the 42-day government shutdown, the longest in US history. President Donald Trump signed a short-term funding bill late Wednesday night, just hours after the house of representatives passed the measure in a 222–209 vote. The bill, which funds the government through January 2026, passed with support from 216 Republicans and six Democrats.

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(ETH-USD)

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3,491.73

+7.78

+(0.22%)

As of 9:52:00 AM UTC. Market Open. Advanced Chart

The market rally on Wednesday was led by a rebound in tech stocks, though volatility persisted. Nvidia (NVDA) shares steadied after SoftBank’s stake sale, while AMD (AMD) surged 9% following remarks from CEO Lisa Su, which buoyed investor sentiment.

Read more: Is Wall Street ready to venture beyond bitcoin and into altcoins?

Meanwhile, crypto legislation remains on the US policy agenda. The Senate Agriculture Committee this week published a draft bill outlining the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) expanded oversight of crypto spot markets.

Lawmakers also scheduled a confirmation hearing for Mike Selig, president Trump’s nominee to head the commission, signaling continued progress on long-delayed crypto market structure reforms despite the shutdown disruptions.

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