Bitcoin (BTC) rose again after the Christmas holidays after the purchase of 2,000 cryptocurrencies ($175 million) by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), owned by President Trump’s family, and less pressure with the expiration of options.
The move brought optimism to cryptocurrency enthusiasts, leading bitcoin to approach US$90,000 again by Christmas.
The expiration of crypto derivatives this Friday had kept bitcoin in a range between $86,000 and $97,000 in recent days. Once the expiration pressure passes, it is expected that the cryptocurrency could move higher even before the start of the year, experts say.
Even with this Friday’s rise, bitcoin is still down 4.75% over the year, frustrating expectations of new records in the face of significant regulatory advances around the world. 2025 will be the cryptocurrency’s first year of negative performance since 2022, when the asset fell 64%. Ether is expected to end the year down 11%.
This week, Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of over $500 million, including $175 million on the 24th, according to Farside. December is on track to record the highest withdrawal volume of the year, with outflows of more than $1.5 billion.
For Guilherme Prado, departmental director at Bitget in Brazil, the scenario calls for caution, especially given the weakening of institutional demand.
As of around 11 a.m. Brasilia time, bitcoin was up 1.6% in the past 24 hours, trading at US$88,971, according to CoinGecko data. In reais, the digital currency increased by 1.76% to R$494,383, according to a quote from Cointrader Monitor.
Among altcoins, ether, a digital currency of the Ethereum network, saw a positive change of 1.8% to US$2,983. Meanwhile, XRP, Ripple’s international payments token, rose 0.5% to $1.88; solana (SOL) recorded an appreciation of 2.3% to US$124.84; and BNB (Binance Smart Chain token) recorded a gain of 0.7% to US$842.23.
The combined market value of all cryptocurrencies in the world currently stands at $3,076 billion.
For André Franco, CEO of Boost Research, bitcoin has an expectation between neutral and slight growth at the end of the year. Vault highlights that by December 26, 67% of the entire crypto market derivatives structure will be eliminated. This will happen due to the maturity of US$128 million in “gamma assets” and another US$287 million on the 26th. “When we combine the maturities of the 19th and the 26th, we get a clearing window,” explains Vault.
“If the price appears stuck between $85,000 and $90,000, that’s not a structural weakness. It’s a forced squeeze. And forced squeezes don’t last forever,” the consultancy’s report concludes. In other words, after the 26th, short-term derivatives “chains” will be broken and stronger moves for bitcoin may emerge.
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