Bitcoin held near $87,000 on Tuesday, setting a steady tone for cryptocurrencies as Asian stocks took a breather after a seven-day skid and investors downgraded U.S. tech stocks through the end of the year.
MSCI’s gauge of Asia Pacific stocks fell 0.1% in early trading, and S&P 500 futures fell after the US benchmark fell 0.3% on Monday.
The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5% in that session, with Tesla, Nvidia and Meta among the most notable decliners.
The weaker stock market came along with another bout of metals volatility. Silver and gold swung after a sharp pullback from new all-time highs as traders booked profits and liquidity tightened after the holidays.
Cryptocurrency traders continued to describe the same theme, a market that keeps moving and then moves less deeply.
Market Snapshot
- Bitcoin: $87,164, down 1.9%
- Ether: $2,929, down 2.3%
- XRP: $1.85, down 2.2%
- Total crypto market capitalization: $3.03 trillion, down 2.1%
Bitcoin and Ether Move Sideways as Year-End Volumes Fade
Jake Kennis, senior research analyst at Nansen, said year-end trading has slowed and volumes have faded across major assets. “Both Bitcoin and Ethereum have largely traded sideways over the past week, reflecting seasonal inactivity rather than a significant change in market structure,” he said.
“Activity has cooled on most chains, with extensive consolidation of active addresses, transactions and fees generated over the past 30 days. Chains like Base saw notable pullbacks in DEX volumes following a very strong run earlier in the year. Solana remains the dominant venue for on-chain trading by volume, even as user activity weakened slightly during the week, with BNB Chain a distant second.”
“Overall, business activity has not disappeared; it has simply slowed and become more selective as the year draws to a close.”
Profit-taking hits metals after new highs
Meanwhile, macro investors remained focused on the political trajectory. Investors were awaiting the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, due to be released later on Tuesday, a release that often resets rate expectations when positioning trades are crowded.
The overall picture still shows a solid year for risk assets, despite year-end swings. The MSCI All Country World Index is up about 21% in 2025, and a broad measure of Asian stocks is up almost 26%, according to global market data.
In the case of metals, the latest move showed how quickly crowded trades can unravel. Spot silver fell 4.8% on Monday after hitting a previous record, and gold fell after hitting its own high on Friday, with profit-taking doing the heavy lifting.
For cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin’s stability looked more like a positioning pause than a conviction boost, with traders watching liquidity, flow and volatility prices for the next move towards the first week of 2026.
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