Bitcoin [BTC] was changing hands around $72,648.22 at the time of writing, having fallen 1.46% in the past 24 hours and down more than 16% year to date.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 stock price was trading at around $7,580.06, after rising slightly and up more than 10% since the beginning of the year. This disparity suggests that Bitcoin functions as a risk asset during periods of strong performance for traditional US stocks.
An X user commented on this:
Bitcoin vs S&P 500
However, according to CryptoQuant’s data on the correlation between Bitcoin and the S&P 500, there was moderate positive movement between the two between January and May 2026.
In May, the short-term 30-day correlation saw tremendous volatility, falling to almost 10% before rising to around 48% by the end of the month. However, the longer-term correlations of 90 days and 180 days remained relatively stable at 45% to 60%.
While Bitcoin struggled to keep up and eventually regained some of its gains, the S&P 500 rose to new highs during this brief decline.
Even with this short gap, the recovery of the 30-day correlation and the stability of the longer-term metrics imply that Bitcoin is still behaving like a risky asset.
However, the crypto community was in Bitcoin’s defense, as one X user noted:
Bitcoin’s SOPR chart evokes bearish sentiments
At the same time, the Spend Output Profit Ratio (SOPR) was below the neutral level of 1 to 0.99.
This recent drop below one indicates that profit-taking has slowed and some holders may give up. Simply put, the selling pressure around Bitcoin is still high under current market conditions.
The selling pressure is increasing
Furthermore, Bitcoin’s net realized gain and loss (NRPL) remained largely below zero between January and June 2026, indicating that investors suffered more losses than gains.
Although NRPL saw some improvement in April and early May as Bitcoin recovered, it was unable to maintain its uptrend. On June 1, the NRPL was around -$27.9 million, and Bitcoin was trading near $72,600.
This suggests that market sentiment is still weak and holders are still experiencing modest losses.
However, AMBCrypto’s earlier report that Bitcoin is now closing in on gold and that its price swings have subsided suggests otherwise.
Final summary
- The price action of Bitcoin and the S&P 500 shows that the digital asset market is currently weak compared to the traditional stock market.
- Bitcoin’s SOPR and NPRL data confirm the bearish pressure surrounding the leading cryptocurrency.