Bitcoin fell below $86,000 on December 15, 2025, continuing a pattern of weakness during U.S. market hours. The cryptocurrency slid to around $85,600, down about 3.6% over the past 24 hours, while ether dipped under $3,000. Crypto-related stocks also declined sharply, outpacing broader market losses.
Major cryptocurrencies opened the week lower, with bitcoin trading just below $90,000 overnight before plunging to $85,600 by early afternoon Eastern Time, a 3.6% drop over 24 hours. Ether fell below $3,000 amid persistent crypto weakness. This movement reinforces a clear pattern: bitcoin performs significantly worse during U.S. trading sessions compared to other times, potentially linked to spot bitcoin ETFs like the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which launched in January 2024.
Bespoke Investment noted on X: "Since the iShares Bitcoin ETF IBIT began trading, had you only owned it after hours (buy the close, sell the next open), it's up 222%. Had you only owned intraday (buy the open, sell the close), it's down 40.5%."
Crypto stocks bore the brunt of the decline. MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Circle (CRCL) each dropped about 7%, Coinbase (COIN) more than 5%, while Robinhood (HOOD) and eToro (ETOR) fell around 2%. Gemini (GEMI) retreated 10% after recent gains from prediction market approvals. Miners like CleanSpark (CLSK), Cipher Mining (CIFR), Hut 8 (HUT), and TeraWulf (WULF) plunged over 10%, tied to data center infrastructure pressures from AI concerns.
In contrast, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 saw only modest declines, highlighting crypto-specific vulnerabilities. Bitcoin remains rangebound above its late November low of $80,000 and below the early December high of $94,000. It is down around 30% from its early October all-time high above $126,000, with selling pressure from investors who bought near the peak.
Exchange data shows buy orders concentrated at $85,000 on the BTC-USDT pair, potentially providing short-term support. Upcoming U.S. employment reports for October and November, a Bank of Japan rate hike, and meetings by the Bank of England and European Central Bank could influence sentiment.
Wintermute OTC trader Jasper De Maere observed: "The failure of a clean year-end rally has introduced short-term fragility, but price action so far reflects consolidation and position-cleaning rather than outright risk aversion. This still looks more like late-year digestion than a structural regime shift."
