Bitcoin Defies Gravity at $87k as Asia Rally Stalls, Wall Street Tech Slips
Bitcoin holds firm while traditional tech wobbles—the decoupling narrative gets real.
The $87k Floor
Bitcoin isn't budging. The $87,000 level has transformed from resistance into a formidable support zone, defying the typical Asian session volatility. While regional momentum fades, the flagship cryptocurrency acts like it's got its own rulebook.
Asia Takes a Breather
The early-week rally across Asian markets has hit a wall. The pause isn't a crash—it's a consolidation. Traders are catching their breath, reassessing positions, and watching for the next catalyst. Meanwhile, capital looks for a home that isn't tied to yesterday's growth stories.
Wall Street's Tech Hiccup
Across the Pacific, the story shifts. Major tech stocks—the darlings of the last decade—are showing cracks. It's not a meltdown, but a subtle slip. The kind that has portfolio managers nervously checking their allocations and wondering if the 'safe' bet is still safe. A classic case of the market charging ahead for earnings that were priced in three quarters ago.
The divide is clear: one asset class holds its ground based on scarcity and network adoption, while another stumbles on the treadmill of perpetual growth expectations. The real test isn't today's price—it's which foundation proves more resilient when the macro winds change. Again.
Market snapshot
- Bitcoin: $87,164, down 1.9%
- Ether: $2,929, down 2.3%
- XRP: $1.85, down 2.2%
- Total crypto market cap: $3.03 trillion, down 2.1%
Bitcoin And Ether Drift 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. “Bitcoin and ethereum have both traded largely sideways over the past week, reflecting seasonal inactivity rather than a meaningful shift in market structure,” he said.
“Activity has cooled across most chains, with a broad consolidation in 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 onchain trading by volume, even as user activity softened slightly over the week, with BNB Chain a distant second.”
“Overall, trading activity hasn’t disappeared; it has simply slowed and become more selective as the year comes to a close.”
Profit-Taking Hits Metals After New Highs
Macro investors, meanwhile, stayed focused on the policy path. Investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s December meeting minutes due later Tuesday, a release that often resets rate expectations when positioning runs crowded.
The bigger picture still shows a strong year for risk assets, despite the late-year wobbles. The MSCI All Country World Index has climbed about 21% in 2025, and a broad measure of Asian stocks has rallied almost 26%, according to market-wrap data.
In metals, the latest MOVE showed how quickly crowded trades can unwind. Spot silver fell 4.8% on Monday after earlier hitting a record, and gold eased after setting its own peak on Friday, with profit-taking doing the heavy lifting.
For crypto, Bitcoin’s steadiness looked more like a positioning pause than a conviction push, with traders watching liquidity, flows and volatility pricing for the next move into the first week of 2026.
