Bitcoin is trading around $87,400 with a market cap of $1.74 tn and daily volume near $21.7 bn, consolidating below its recent $94,600 peak. Gold futures have reached about $4,530 and silver spot trades above $71, reinforcing demand for scarce assets. Technical indicators show BTC moving within a descending channel around the $87,800 pivot, with key upside levels at $88,600, $90,500, $92,650, and a potential retest of $94,600.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have logged eight straight trading sessions of institutional redemptions, with total outflows hitting about $825 million as year-end tax loss harvesting takes hold. On December 24, Bitcoin products shed $175 million, while Ethereum ETFs lost $52.70 million and Solana and XRP funds attracted smaller inflows. Analysts highlight a regional shift in flows, with U.S. investors acting as net sellers and Asian buyers emerging as key accumulators, alongside weakening apparent Bitcoin demand and rising odds of a broader bear market phase.

Over the past 3 months, Bitcoin has fallen 19.7% with a $21.5K drawdown and is down 10.5% year-over-year, while short-term performance has stabilized around flat. Monthly RSI now sits at 56.5, below its 12‑month SMA and close to the 4‑year average, levels that previously marked shifts between cyclical corrections and deeper bearish phases.

On Dec. 25, Changpeng Zhao shared a Christmas Day note stressing that the most compelling Bitcoin entries often occur when sentiment is weak. According to TradingView, BTC/USDT posted a wide daily range with a high near $90,599, a low around $86,412, and a close around $87,784, down roughly 1% for the day.

On Dec. 23, CryptoQuant said 'Whale Capitulation on Pause', with realized losses from "new whales" tied to the $124K–$84K drop now flat. On Dec. 24, analyst Darkfost reported BTC whale deposits to Binance fell in December from roughly $7.88 billion to $3.86 billion, implying lighter near-term sell supply. He also noted a $466 million spike across 100–10,000 BTC cohorts, including over $435 million from 1,000–10,000 BTC.

On 25 December 2025, Ray Dalio said in a podcast with Nithin Kamath that Bitcoin is unlikely to be adopted as a central bank reserve asset. He cited the transparency and traceability of its public ledger, which enables governmental oversight and intervention, as core drawbacks. Dalio contrasted Bitcoin with gold, which he views as uniquely resistant to control and manipulation.

Bitcoin is trading just above $87k after gaining less than 1% in the last 24 hours, while technical readings show improving bullish momentum. The price is now testing resistance levels near $90,533 and could move toward $94k, but continued ETF outflows and a retest of the $84,633 low remain possible.

On December 25, 2025, VanEck's digital asset research team said that a recent decline in Bitcoin's hash rate could precede higher BTC prices based on past data. The analysts found that when the network's hashing power shrinks over 30- and 90-day periods, subsequent 90- to 180-day returns for Bitcoin have more often been positive and on average stronger. At the time of their report, Bitcoin was trading at $86,960, slightly lower on the day.