Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP Extend Losses Amid Year-End Caution and Market Volatility
Bitcoin traded toward $85,800 after sliding from about $86,180.91, with Ether around $2,930, XRP about $1.8818, Solana $126.13, and DOGE $0.1285. Over the past week, SOL, XRP, and DOGE posted weekly losses exceeding 5%, while Bitcoin fell more than 4%. Earlier in the week, Bitcoin briefly dipped below $87,500 before recovering toward $90,000. Despite this, the technical outlook is deteriorating, with a baseline around $81,000.
The broader macro environment showed the MSCI Asia Pacific Index falling 1.3%, and U.S. equity futures softened ahead of the November jobs data release. The dollar hovered near two-month lows, while the yen traded around 155 per dollar ahead of an anticipated Bank of Japan rate hike.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization was approximately $3.06 trillion, down 0.2% in the past 24 hours and over 2% for the week. Binance Research estimated the total crypto market cap has declined about 15% over the past 30 days. The crypto fear-and-greed index stood at 16, its lowest in nearly three weeks, indicating elevated caution among investors.
December is typically a lower-liquidity period, which increases the risk of sharper price swings as traders adjust exposure ahead of year-end. Kalshi prediction markets show a majority of participants expect Bitcoin to finish the year below $100,000, with only a 23% chance of it moving above that level. Despite recent losses, institutional flows into crypto ETFs remain strong, highlighting longer-term positioning by investors.
