Bitcoin Breaks $120K As ‘Uptober’ Momentum Rises, Shutdown Fails To Stall Gains

Bitcoin pushed above $120,000 late Thursday, extending a strong run that began in September and kept rolling into October, a month traders call Uptober for its bullish ￰0￱ move followed a quick rebound earlier in the ￰1￱ an intraday dip to $114,000 on Oct. 1, Bitcoin recovered to trade near $118,700 to $118,900 by Oct. 2, with highs reaching $119,500. The market leaned into seasonality, with Bitcoin posting average October gains of 14.4% since ￰2￱ crypto joined the ￰3￱ rose 3.2% to $4,536. XRP added 1.8% to $3.04, while Solana gained 4.2% to $233.80. The total market value climbed about 2% to $4.2 ￰4￱ rally arrived despite a US government shutdown that began at the start of the ￰5￱ desks cited steady dip buying and Q4 repositioning, a familiar pattern in past Uptober phases. $120,048.93 #Bitcoin #BTC $BTC $USD — Bitcoin (@Bitcoin) October 3, 2025 Bitcoin’s October Gains Echo A Long History Of Seasonal Strength Gadi Chait, investment head at Xapo Bank, said: “October has historically been a bullish month for Bitcoin, and early signs suggest this year may be no ￰6￱ the US government shutdown that began at the start of the month, the first since 2018-2019, which furloughed over 90% of SEC staff and left the CFTC operating with skeleton crews of 5-6%, hasn’t derailed momentum, showing how resilient Bitcoin has become of late.” “Far from being a speculative outlier, Bitcoin continues to show its ability to defy the odds and assert itself as a digital asset with staying ￰7￱ long-term investors, the trend is clear, Bitcoin’s strength is structural, not seasonal.” Market veterans describe Uptober as a self-reinforcing mix of calendar flows and risk ￰8￱ funds rotate for year-end, liquidity improves and volatility often skews higher, which has historically favored upside in ￰9￱ is looking amazing- but is this rally sustainable?

With BTC reaching historical highs and massively overextended on this week's incredible Uptober rally, are there signs and signals pointing to a correction- or a gravity-defying continuation to $124k and beyond… ￰10￱ — Aaron Dishner (@MooninPapa) October 3, 2025 Derivatives Activity Builds As Uptober Momentum Extends Derivatives desks pointed to brisk activity around key round numbers, while spot volumes improved into the ￰11￱ tone echoed prior Octobers when momentum, once established, tended to persist for ￰12￱ uncertainty still looms, yet the immediate market read signalled ￰13￱ tracked headlines and monitored the pace of approvals and guidance, even as staffing at US agencies thinned during the shutdown.

Przemysław Kral, CEO of zondacrypto, said: “The US government shutdown, now a reality, can damage the crypto industry by disrupting the SEC and CFTC, which are vital to global digital asset markets.” He warned that reduced staffing could slow innovation and dent investor confidence, with delays to guidance, approvals and ￰14￱ on items such as the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act may slip, and open questions around the Anti-CBDC Act could linger, weakening ￰15￱ payment hiccups could nudge users toward stablecoins, and an underpowered SEC may also slow crypto ETF ￰16￱ of this could “offer industry leaders a chance to lobby for clearer, faster rules in post-shutdown budget talks,” he ￰17￱ now, momentum sets the ￰18￱ Uptober follows its usual script, traders will watch whether $120,000 holds as support, while fund flows and macro cues steer the next leg.