Bitcoin reclaimed $90,121 after a previous touch of the same level 15 hours earlier was followed by a drop to $85,000. About $60 million in short positions were liquidated in 30 minutes, and data across Binance, Gate, Bybit, Hyperliquid, and OKX show short-liquidation dominance between 63% and 95% amid heightened intraday swings.

On December 18, 2025, lower-than-expected US CPI data for November coincided with a sharp move higher in Bitcoin's price. Headline CPI came in at 2.7% versus a 3.1% forecast, while Core CPI was 2.6%, and BTC briefly climbed from just above $87,000 to around $88,500.

On December 17, Bitcoin slid by about $4,000 and is now consolidating close to $87,000 while traders assess whether it can retest $90,000 before Christmas. Sentiment has weakened, ETF inflows have become inconsistent, and BTC is trading below key moving averages as markets await US CPI data that could steer risk appetite. At the same time, speculative interest is also shifting to presale tokens such as PEPENODE, which has raised over $2.36 million with its mine-to-earn meme coin model.

Global Macro Investor's head of macro research Julien Bittel has shared on X a bitcoin "oversold RSI" roadmap that tracks BTC's average behavior after the relative strength index drops below 30, marking that breach as t=0. He noted that the current market action has so far aligned closely with the historical overlay, which points to a sharp rally within 90 days and a possible move toward the $180,000 area, while stressing the path is probabilistic and assumes the bull market has not already ended. Bittel also argued that bitcoin's traditional four-year cycle tied to halving narratives is "broken" by changes in the public debt refinancing cycle and liquidity backdrop, and he sees the current cycle potentially extending into 2026, with BTC trading at $87,330 at press time.

Fundstrat co-founder Thomas Lee says Bitcoin has fallen into an extreme oversold zone and highlights research by Bittel Julien of Global Macro Investor. Julien, who shared an update on X this Wednesday, notes BTC's RSI slipped under 30 and argues past cycles often stabilized before advancing toward new highs.

On Wednesday, US spot Bitcoin ETFs took in roughly $457 million in net inflows, the strongest single-day tally since early November. On December 18, 2025, the report noted Fidelity attracted the largest share while BlackRock also saw gains, with cumulative ETF inflows above $57 billion and total assets exceeding $112 billion.

On Dec. 17, Bitcoin jumped $3,000 in an hour to reclaim $90,000, wiping out $120 million in shorts, before falling to $86,000 as $200 million in longs were liquidated, swinging market cap by $140 billion in two hours. Glassnode's Dec. 17 analysis attributes the turmoil to thin liquidity, overhead supply between $93,000 and $120,000, and clustered December options expiries that are keeping price confined in an $81,000–$93,000 band rather than to excessive futures leverage.

Q1 2026 could usher in the next crypto bull run, thanks to Fed policy, interest rate cuts, liquidity, US Midterms, and the labor market.