Bitcoin has faced strong selling in recent sessions, with price briefly bouncing from around $86,000 toward $90,000 on Wednesday before sliding back to the $86,000 area. On-chain data cited by Axel Adler shows the 30-day Short-Term Holder SOPR has fallen to 0.98, meaning recent sales by short-term holders are being made at a loss. BTC now trades near the $86,000–$88,000 zone around its 200-day moving average after a correction from highs close to $125,000, keeping downside risk and structural weakness in focus.

Bitcoin has fallen over 30% since early October, shifting sentiment from optimism to caution as some market participants view the move as a possible peak. A new thesis argues the classic four-year pattern may be giving way to a structurally supported supercycle. Price action remains weak below 90,000 dollars, with 85,000–86,000 highlighted as key support.

XRP slipped below $2 as liquidity and demand across altcoins weakened. On Binance, futures taker buy volume fell from above $5.8 billion in July to roughly $250 million, a 95.7% drop, highlighting fading conviction. Derivatives signals and price action under key moving averages point to elevated downside risk.

On December 15, CryptoQuant data showed short-term holders moved about 24.7K BTC to exchanges near ~$88.2K, with 86.8% realized in profit and over $1.89 billion in value. As price slipped toward ~$85K on December 16, STH inflows fell to 3.9K BTC while long-term holder inflows were muted, indicating profit-taking rather than structural distribution.

Ethereum is trading above $3,200 while on-chain data shows its price moving close to the realized cost basis of wallets holding more than 100,000 ETH, near the $2,500 zone. This level, which has only been tested four times in the last five years according to CryptoQuant, has historically acted as a structural floor and coincided with major market turning points. At the same time, ETH faces resistance around its 50-day moving average and key overhead levels between $3,400 and $3,600.

XRP has been trading close to its lowest price of the year, with the chart showing a clear deterioration in trend structure while broader market sentiment stays cautious. At the same time, a CryptoQuant report notes that whale wallets are stepping up trading and accumulation, and the XRP Spot Taker CVD has shifted to taker-buy dominance. This combination of rising large-holder activity and stronger aggressive buying is often seen around market bottoms, even though price remains below key moving averages and overall demand is still weak.

Bitcoin slipped back under $91,000 after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points, sparking short-term volatility across risk assets. On-chain metrics from Binance show Exchange Inflow Coin Days Destroyed dropping to 380, the lowest level since September 2017, signaling that long-term holders are largely avoiding deposits to exchanges. With BTC trading around $89,600 and price trapped between the 200-day and 100-day moving averages, the market sits in a fragile consolidation while whales appear reluctant to sell.

Following the latest FOMC meeting, where the Federal Reserve cut rates by 25 basis points, Ethereum slipped toward $3,160–$3,196 and market sentiment turned cautious. A well-known Bitcoin OG expanded a leveraged long to 120,094 ETH worth about $392.5 million, with liquidation set at $2,234.69, according to Lookonchain. With ETH still below major moving averages near $3,300, the position faces rising risk if volatility spikes or support around $3,050–$3,100 is revisited.

Ethereum has climbed above $3,300 and briefly approached $3,400, but many analysts still regard the broader trend as structurally bearish. On-chain data from Lookonchain shows whale trader BitcoinOG has expanded a leveraged long to 85,001 ETH, worth about $280 million, with more than $16 million in unrealized gains. This aggressive positioning comes just before an FOMC rate decision, leaving ETH trading between whale accumulation and macro uncertainty near the $3,380–$3,420 resistance band.