A renewed clampdown on domestic Bitcoin mining in China drove a sharp hashrate decline and a price slide to $86,000. The restrictions focused on Xinjiang forced large operations offline, removing about 100 EH/s of computing power within 24 hours and intensifying selling as miners sought liquidity for costs and relocation.

Bitcoin hovered near $88,000 on Wednesday after a turbulent stretch, as roughly $628 million in 24-hour liquidations swept the crypto market, according to derivatives heatmap data. Shorts lost more than $230 million, with nearly $200 million cleared in ETH and about $180 million in BTC, while rotation into gold and long‑term holder selling kept sentiment cautious.

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.