Crypto Markets Today: Bitcoin drifts lower as bearish trend persists

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Crypto Markets Today: Bitcoin drifts lower as bearish trend persists Bitcoin slipped overnight, dragging the broader crypto market lower as traders remained cautious with few external cues to provide direction. By Oliver Knight , Omkar Godbole | Edited by Sheldon Reback Dec 17, 2025, 11:30 a.m. Bitcoin drifted lower overnight (Midjourney/Modified by CoinDesk) What to know : BTC dropped 1.5% from its overnight high, with failure to reclaim $94,700 last week reinforcing a downtrend marked by lower highs since early October. The CoinDesk 20 has lost 1.6% since midnight UTC, while bitcoin dominance rose, underscoring continued underperformance across altcoins. The average crypto RSI sits at 38.49, suggesting the market is oversold and could be due a short-term relief rally despite the absence of clear year-end catalysts. In this article PYUSD PYUSD $ 1.0005 ◢ 0.06 % The crypto market slipped overnight, with bitcoin BTC $ 86,806.02 dropping 1.5% from the high it hit in the early hours of Wednesday. The broader market followed suit. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20) fell 1.6% since midnight UTC with all members of the index declining. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . Bitcoin's sell-off after failing to break above $94,700 last week has extended a downtrend that started in early October with a series of lower highs. In order to break the bearish trend and stage a recovery, the largest cryptocurrency needs to trade back above $95,000 and ideally $98,000, although year-end catalysts remain absent. Much of the market is, however, in "oversold" territory according to the average crypto relative strength index (RSI) , which is at 38.49/100, indicating the potential for a short-term relief rally. Derivatives positioning BTC's 30-day implied volatility, represented by Volmex's BVIV, remains below an annualized 50%, suggesting market calm ahead of Thursday's U.S. inflation data and Friday's Bank of Japan rate decision. BTC's 90-day historical volatility is now consistent with major tech stocks such as Tesla and Nvidia, a sign of market maturation. BTC/USD longs on Bitfinex have hit highest since February. Open interest (OI) in futures tied to most tokens, including BTC and ether ETH $ 2,928.14 , has declined over 24 hours. BCH, UNI and NEAR stand out with moderate increases in OI. On Deribit, put writing at bitcoin's $85,000 strike and call writing at $95,000 and $100,000 strikes point to expectations for a broad range play in the near term. Block flows featured straddles and risk reversals in BTC and call calendar spreads in ether. Broadly speaking, both BTC and ETH puts remain pricier than calls, pointing to persistent downside concerns and call overwriting. Token talk The altcoin market continues to exhibit weakness against bitcoin trading pairs with bitcoin dominance rising to 58.7% from 57.8% on Nov. 26. ASTER and TAO are the two worst-performing altcoins out of the top 100, posting a 6.5% and a 6.1% move to the downside since midnight UTC. The plunge in ASTER extends a bearish trend since the weekly candle open on Monday, with a slide in excess of 20% as the hype around BNB Chain derivatives exchanges continues to wane. There were a handful of bullish outliers in the altcoin market, these included monero XMR $ 431.17 , up by 0.2% since midnight and Cardano's privacy token, NIGHT, which rose by more than 5% mid-morning in Europe. The "altcoin season" indicator is at 19/100 as the market firmly remains focused on bitcoin since October's liquidation wipeout. Crypto Markets Today Derivatives Markets market analysis More For You Protocol Research: GoPlus Security By CoinDesk Research Nov 14, 2025 Commissioned by GoPlus What to know : As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M. GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month. Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B. View Full Report More For You How China’s strengthening yuan could support bitcoin prices By Omkar Godbole , AI Boost | Edited by Oliver Knight 6 minutes ago The yuan has rise to its highest in over two months against the dollar. What to know : The strengthening Chinese yuan could create a more bullish environment for bitcoin by influencing global money flows. A stronger yuan allows China to implement economic stimulus, potentially benefiting cryptocurrencies amid global economic shifts. The yuan's rise may lead to a weaker dollar, which historically boosts demand for dollar-denominated assets like bitcoin. 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