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Bitcoin Price Plunges to $100,000 Range Ahead of U.S. Shutdown Vote
Bitcoin price fell sharply on Wednesday, sliding 3.6% at times from an intraday high of $105,316 to a low at $100,803, even as U.S. stocks and gold climbed ahead of the House vote to end the government shutdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has 423 points, or 0.8% currently led by gains in Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and American Express.
The S&P 500 edged up 0.1%, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.3%. Gold rose to over $4,200, and silver traded above $53.
At the time of writing, the bitcoin price is $101,640. At 9:30 EST on Wednesday, the bitcoin price was over $104,500.
Bitcoin price decline and government shutdown dynamics
Bitcoin price’s pullback comes as investors rotate toward traditional assets with clearer exposure to economic policy. Analysts suggest profit-taking and lower institutional flows may also be contributing factors.
Despite the drop, Bitcoin price may be nearing a short-term bottom. Its Net Unrealized Profit (NUP) ratio, a measure of coins held in profit, fell to 0.476, according to BM Pro data — levels historically associated with market bottoms. Similar readings in 2024 preceded rebounds of 15–25% over the following month.
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a Senate-backed bill aimed at ending the record-long government shutdown. The White House has indicated that President Trump is ready to sign the measure once it reaches his desk.
House Speaker Mike Johnson faces the challenge of rallying his narrow GOP majority but remains “very optimistic” about securing passage.
The shutdown’s impacts continue to ripple across the country. Nearly 900 flights were canceled today, though reports suggest air traffic control staffing issues are easing.
Millions of Americans remain affected by disruptions to federal services, including SNAP recipients, who are still in limbo after the Supreme Court decided to keep full benefit payments on hold.
Political tensions are rising as House Democrats press accountability. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries criticized Senate Democrats who sided with Republicans on the government funding measure, stating they will have to “explain themselves.” Lawmakers are navigating the balance between party unity and public pressure to reopen the government.
The vote marks a critical moment in a protracted shutdown, which has left federal workers without pay and delayed key services. Congress faces mounting pressure to resolve the standoff and restore normal operations, while the administration prepares to quickly implement the reopening plan once legislation is approved.
Fed split and market uncertainty
Markets are also weighing a potential December rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Traders assign roughly a 72% probability of a 25-basis-point cut, though officials remain divided between inflation concerns and slowing growth.
Last meeting, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated that a combination of internal policy disagreements and the lack of federal government data had made additional interest rate cuts unlikely for the year.
The Fed, as widely expected, cut rates by a quarter percentage point to help cushion the job market from potential weakening.
However, Powell emphasized that ongoing disruptions caused by the federal government shutdown, which had limited the release of key employment and inflation data, had created uncertainty for policymakers. The comments did little good for the Bitcoin price.
At the time in late October, bitcoin’s price was around $109,000. Since then, bitcoin price has continued to slump — even below $100,000 a couple of times last week.
In a press conference following the two-day meeting, Powell noted that the Fed had relied on every available data source, including private surveys, its own in-house research, and informal interviews with business contacts nationwide.
While he did not explicitly rule out a December rate cut, he suggested that the Fed might have needed to act cautiously, likening decision-making in the environment to “driving in the fog.”
The situation show that the government shutdown, in its second month at the time, had stalled the release of economic indicators crucial for informed monetary policy decisions. This data gap had complicated the Fed’s ability to respond quickly to changes in employment and inflation, even as President Donald Trump had publicly pushed for further rate reductions.
This post Bitcoin Price Plunges to $100,000 Range Ahead of U.S. Shutdown Vote first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
