The price of digital gold reached $121,000 for the first time since mid-August, when it set a record above $124,000. The second-largest cryptocurrency rose to $4,500, marking a three-week high.
At the time of writing, bitcoin trades around $120,000, up 1.3% over the past 24 hours.
Ethereum showed a stronger move, adding 2.4% over the past 24 hours. It is trading near $4,500.
Over the week, the second-largest cryptocurrency gained 13.5%, while the first added 2.5%. CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler Jr noted that over the last quarter ETH has nearly matched BTC in growth.
Over the last quarter, Ethereum has nearly matched Bitcoin in annual performance. pic.twitter.com/ku0YEdxKCP
— Axel 💎🙌 Adler Jr (@AxelAdlerJr) October 3, 2025
Bulls in control
The sector’s market capitalisation rose 1.4% to $4.2 trillion. All top-10 assets by market value posted gains. BNB (+6.1%) and Solana (+3.4%) stood out.
On a weekly basis, the altcoin rally was led by privacy coins — Zcash (+148% over the week) and Dash (+64%).
The latest leg higher in crypto was not accompanied by a cascade of liquidations. Over the past day, the tally reached $385 million.
The Fear Index returned to the “greed” zone, signalling bullish investor sentiment.
What is driving the crypto market?
One likely catalyst is the US government shutdown beginning on October 1. Market participants noted that in three of the past five shutdowns this coincided with a rise in bitcoin’s price.
Historically, such events have not weighed on risk assets. According to The Kobeissi Letter, the S&P 500 has risen during every shutdown since 1995.
The near-term effects bring more volatility.
The S&P 500 tends to finish higher in just ~55% of cases at the end of the shutdown.
In the 1970s and 1980s, this typically came with a sharp downturn.
However, the S&P 500 has finished higher during every shutdown since 1995. pic.twitter.com/CvMDF7aNhd
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) September 30, 2025
Amid the budget deficit and rising inflation that a shutdown may bring, investors are using risk assets as a hedge. As Bloomberg reports, market participants expect capital to flow into cryptocurrencies.
Another positive factor is the resumption of steady inflows into spot ETF based on bitcoin and Ethereum. Over the past week, exchange-traded funds focused on digital gold took in $2.2 billion — the highest since mid-September.
Instruments based on the second-largest cryptocurrency attracted over $1 billion for the first time since late August.
Seasonality also matters. In the crypto community, October has earned the nickname Uptober: historically, in this month bitcoin has almost always delivered positive returns, averaging about 20.6%.
“September has traditionally shown the worst performance for bitcoin on an annual basis, whereas the fourth quarter consistently delivers the best results. I am not a huge fan of seasonality theory, but I must admit: these patterns often have a self-reinforcing effect,” said Syncracy Capital co-founder Ryan Watkins in a comment to Bloomberg.
Optimism is also buoyed by expectations of a second rate cut by the Fed in October. Nearly 98% of market participants are betting on further monetary easing.
Earlier, experts confirmed bitcoin’s ‘healthy dynamics’ and forecast a rise to $200,000 by year-end.