Bitcoin
The leading cryptocurrency by market value jumped from roughly $91,480 to $92,500, CoinDesk data show. At one point, prices topped $93,000. Major alternative cryptocurrencies such as
“Market sentiment is improving, with both Bitcoin and Ethereum transitioning into bullish trend regimes,” Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, who was recently voted as the top crypto analyst, said in a Telegram message to CoinDesk.
“We turned constructive following the late-December options expiry, anticipating that tax-loss selling would subside and that trading desks would regain flexibility to deploy risk into the new year,” Thielen added.
Bitcoin and the wider crypto market mostly remained depressed through December as U.S.-based holders supposedly liquidated their holdings at a loss to offset capital gains and reduce overall tax liability. Investors intentionally realize losses on underperforming assets to lower the tax owed on profitable sales.
Bitcoin underperformed Nasdaq, gold, and other precious metals through 2025, ending the year with a 6% loss. The performance was particularly weak during the North American trading hours in the final weeks of the year.
Bitcoin’s latest uptick coincides with renewed geopolitical stress from the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. This rise is increasingly viewed as a sign of cryptocurrencies attracting safe-haven demand.
“We view the simultaneous surge across multiple asset classes following U.S. military action in Venezuela as a textbook flight to quality. Safe havens such as gold and silver are rallying sharply as investors price in elevated geopolitical risk that could persist or escalate,” Ryan Lee, chief analyst at cryptocurency exchange Bitget, said in an email.
“Oil, for now, remains relatively contained around the $60 per barrel level, which helps limit immediate inflation pressure, but markets are clearly discounting the risk of future energy disruptions and tighter liquidity conditions that may compel the Federal Reserve to keep rates elevated for longer,” Lee added.
Looking ahead, the bias remains bullish while BTC’s price holds above the 21-day exponential moving average, according to Thielen.
“Early ETF inflows have been encouraging, and as long as Bitcoin holds above its 21-day moving average, the near-term bias remains skewed to the upside,” Thielen said.
The 11 bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) pulled in over $471 million on Friday, the largest single-day tally since Nov. 11, according to data source SoSoValue.