The week of December 8–14 was marked by a cautious recovery for the crypto market after a sharp decline in November. Bitcoin stabilized in the $89,000–92,000 range, partially recovering from last month’s drop from above $120,000, but it is still far from new highs.
According to several market reports, Bitcoin fell to the $83,800–88,000 range at the beginning of the week, then rebounded to ~$94,000, and stabilized just below $90,000 by the weekend. On December 8, Binance recorded BTC at around $91,900 (+3.1% per day) with a daily range of $87,700–92,300. On December 14, according to Binance and Coindesk, Bitcoin traded near $88,800–89,200, losing about 1.5–2% per day. On a weekly basis, the total growth is estimated at approximately +6.5%, but this is still below the levels seen in early November.
Implied volatility for BTC narrowed slightly after a spike earlier in the week, but Friday’s decline pushed it back up again. Analysts note that the market is caught between expectations of further easing of US Fed policy and fresh memories of the November “dump,” so real volumes and risk appetite are significantly lower than in the first half of the year.
Ethereum followed in Bitcoin’s wake: at the end of the week, ETH settled at around $3,100, showing an increase of about +3% over 7 days.
At the institutional demand level, the picture is more complicated. After a record outflow in November (when Bitcoin ETFs in the US lost about $3.5-4 billion), the situation began to unfold in December: aggregate ETFs on BTC and ETH showed a net inflow of about $341 million, although a confident recovery is still far off. At the same time, some spot ETFs on Ethereum still recorded a net outflow this week (about $42.4 million on December 11), indicating a redistribution of positions and investor caution towards second-tier altcoins.
The overall ETF market in the US is growing at a record pace (AUM of all ETFs reached $13.22 trillion), but the share of cryptocurrencies in this pie remains niche and highly volatile.
According to trading platforms, most of the major altcoins traded worse than Bitcoin during the week: BTC’s dominance increased slightly, while many tokens continued their slow slide after their autumn highs.
A telling example is Solana. The average price of SOL in December fell to around $133, while in October it was around $187, and in September it was above $200. In other words, since early autumn, Solana has lost about a third of its value at closing, despite the ecosystem’s still high activity.
In the short term, individual tokens continue to show double-digit returns: in daily dynamics on Binance, the leaders of the week were ACA, GLMR, and VOXEL (growth of +38%, +18%, and +16%, respectively), while new “meme stories” such as PENGU or FARTCOIN appear in exchange digests and trader chats.
But the overall background for alts remains difficult: volumes are declining, liquidity is fragmented, and any news about Bitcoin instantly overtakes local trends.
In terms of news, the week was marked by two important signals for the industry:
1) An investigation by The New York Times and The Daily Beast showed that under the current US administration, law enforcement practices against a number of large crypto companies have softened dramatically: the SEC closed or weakened several cases against platforms associated with Donald Trump’s circle, and the founder of Binance received a presidential pardon. This has reduced regulatory pressure, but at the same time raised questions about the level of investor protection.
2) In the Persian Gulf, the industry’s biggest players are actively seeking “financial salvation”: top managers of crypto companies and Bitcoin ideologues held a series of events in Abu Dhabi, trying to attract capital from UAE sovereign wealth funds and secure the emirates’ status as a new hub for digital assets.
These processes are intensifying the geographical shift of the industry: part of the liquidity and infrastructure is moving from traditional centers to new jurisdictions with more lenient rules.
It is highly likely that the market will end 2025 in a state of heightened volatility and “nervous stabilization”: range movements around current levels, sharp spikes on news about rates and regulation, and the absence of a single driver that could quickly return Bitcoin to its autumn highs.
