Presently, bitcoin (BTC) is buying and selling beneath $90,000.
The worst final quarter was recorded in 2018.
This time, the Christmas rally didn’t come for bitcoin (BTC). As an alternative of items, bitcoiners discovered coal underneath the tree, with a market that closed the 12 months decrease and much from the standard bullish expectations for this time.
On the time of publication of this word, the worth of bitcoin is 88,000 {dollars}30% beneath its all-time excessive (ATH) of $126,100:
As CriptoNoticias has reported, New 12 months’s Eve Events normally coincide with intervals of bullish momentum for BTC, a conduct that fueled the concept of the “Christmas rally” for years..
Nonetheless, 2025 breaks that logic. The digital asset goes by way of one of many worst final 4 months in its historical past (September, October, November and December), with a cumulative fall of near 22.06%, as seen beneath:
If 2025 closed this manner, it could be the second worst year-end for BTC, solely surpassed by that of 2018, when the worth plummeted by 42.16%.
Now, it’s value asking what’s behind this fall. At first of October, BTC surpassed the $126,000 barrier for the primary time in its historical past.
At the moment, the market was respiration robust enthusiasm, with rising expectations that the asset may advance in direction of the $130,000 space.
Nonetheless, on October 10, the market reacted strongly to a brand new supply of pressure between america and China, triggering a pointy drop in costs.
That day, President Donald Trump used his Fact Social account to warn that his administration was analyzing the opportunity of making use of a “large enhance in tariffs” on Chinese language merchandise.
The message was sufficient to reactivate fears of a brand new escalation within the commerce battle between the world’s two largest economies and hit the spirit of traders squarely.
That episode marked a turning level for the market. The geopolitical noise appeared at a time of demanding valuations and with a lot of the optimism already included into the worth.
This weakened confidence and left BTC with no room to maintain the bullish inertia that normally characterizes the ultimate stretch of the 12 months, giving technique to a state of affairs of higher warning and profit-taking.
One occasion that was anticipated to behave as a catalyst for the market was an rate of interest minimize by the US Federal Reserve (FED).
On December 10, the assembly of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) was held, by which the financial coverage of the world’s major monetary energy was outlined.
Because the markets anticipated, the physique chaired by Jerome Powell minimize rates of interest by 25 foundation factors. Traditionally, such a choice normally awakens the urge for food for threat, because it lowers the price of cash and favors the entry of liquidity into monetary markets.
Nonetheless, On this event the minimize was not sufficient to reactivate the euphoria. Danger urge for food didn’t return and property thought-about dangerous, akin to BTC and cryptocurrencies, did not capitalize on the measure.
This BTC correction displays a change out there temper. And after setting historic highs at the start of October, the momentum was diluted and gave technique to a dynamic of profit-taking and warning, with traders much less prepared to tackle threat within the absence of recent clear bullish alerts.
However neither expectations of a seasonal rally nor the FED’s price minimize managed to reverse that local weather.
With euphoria out of the image, BTC went by way of the tip of 2025 in defensive mode, leaving one among its worst performances within the closing stretch of the 12 months and breaking, as soon as once more, with the narrative of the Christmas rally.

