By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless otherwise noted)
The week has gotten off to a positive start with bitcoin up more than 1% to $89,800, nearing the upper end of the recent week-long play between $85,000 and $90,000. Overhead supply between $92,000 and $95,000 remains a key hurdle for the bulls to overcome, according to BRN.
This week’s US economic calendar is light but relevant, with reports on third-quarter US gross domestic product (GDP) and consumer confidence on Tuesday, followed by jobless claims on Wednesday.
These numbers can affect investors’ risk sentiment, although year-end holidays can keep market liquidity thin, leading to erratic price movements. On Friday, $27 billion worth of BTC and ETH options expire on Deribit, with a position leaning bullish ahead of the event.
Some analysts remain cautious despite the price increase.
“The short-term positive momentum can be misleading, and the broader picture of disappointment compared to hopes at the start of the year should not be overlooked,” Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, said in an email.
“Bitcoin is 30% below its peak and trading at a lower level than it was in early 2025. Trying to bring YTD momentum to zero is of little consolation in this context,” he added. The biggest cryptocurrency started the year around $93,400, CoinDesk data shows.
In the broader market, tokens such as HYPE, KAS, SKY and NIGHT are up 4% to 6% in 24 hours, while major altcoins such as XRP, ETH and SOL are trading mixed. The CoinDesk 20 and CoinDesk 80 indices are little changed.
Uniswap’s UNI token has fallen over 1% as voting starts on a proposal to activate the protocol fee switch and turn the token into a value-added instrument. The vote has been overwhelmingly in support of the protocol.
In traditional markets, gold hit a record high of $4,420 as longer-dated bond yields in Japan continued to rise, underscoring fiscal concerns. The dollar index fell back slightly to $98.48, erasing Friday’s gains. Pay attention!
Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today
What to see
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Crypto
- Macro
- 22 December at 8.30: Canada Nov. PPI YoY (Prev 6%), MoM Est. 0.3%.
- Earnings (Estimated based on FactSet data)
Token Events
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Governance votes and calls
- BNB Chain votes to reduce the number of consecutive blocks a validator produces from 16 to 8. This adjustment aims to prevent large chain realignments and prioritize network stability. Voting ends December 22.
- Axie Infinity votes to stake the Community Treasury’s idle assets to earn composite protocol rewards. Voting ends December 22.
- Moonwell DAO votes to switch the rETH oracle on Base and OP Mainnet to a stable exchange rate feed and use 2.6 ETH from reserves to repay bad debts. Voting ends December 22.
- CoW DAO votes to renew its grant program for 2026. The proposal aims to improve capital efficiency via quarterly fund releases and focuses on developer onboarding, ecosystem adaptation and new protocol applications. Voting ends December 22.
- Unlocks
- The token is launched
Conferences
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
Market movements
- BTC is up 1.73% as of 16 ET Sunday at $89,806.03 (24 hours: 1.39%)
- ETH is up 1.79% to $3,043.84 (24h: 1.62%)
- CoinDesk 20 is up 1.31% to 2,773.68 (24h: +0.76%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is down 1 bps to 2.809%
- BTC funding rate is at 0.0082% (9.0173% annualized) on Binance
- DXY is down 0.12% to 98.48
- Gold futures are up 1.24% at $4,441.80
- Silver futures are up 2.22% at $68.99
- The Nikkei 225 closed up 1.81% at 50,402.39
- The Hang Seng closed up 0.43% at 25,801.77
- The FTSE is down 0.37% at 9,860.97
- The Euro Stoxx 50 is down 0.17% at 5,750.28
- The DJIA closed Friday up 0.38% at 48,134.89
- The S&P 500 closed up 0.88% at 6,834.50
- The Nasdaq Composite closed up 1.31% at 23,307.62
- The S&P/TSX Composite closed up 1.00% at 31,755.77
- The S&P 40 Latin America closed up 0.19% at 3,087.72
- US 10-year Treasuries are up 1.8 bps at 4.169%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures rose 0.36% to 6,912.00
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.53% to 25,709.75
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures rose 0.09% to 48,509.00
Bitcoin statistics
- BTC Dominance: 59.77% (0.27%)
- Ether to bitcoin ratio: 0.03388 (unchanged)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,045 EH/s
- Hash price (spot): $38.24
- Total fees: 1.88 BTC / $165,900
- CME Futures open interest: 119,605 BTC
- BTC priced in gold: 21.3 oz
- BTC vs Gold Market Cap: 6.01%
Technical Analysis
- The chart shows bitcoin’s hourly price swings in candlestick format.
- BTC has broken out of a mini-descending channel, confirming seller exhaustion and opening doors for more gains ahead.
- A clean break above the rising trend line from the November 21 low would cement the immediate bullish outlook and reveal the $92,000-$95,000 supply zone.
Crypto stocks
- Coinbase Global (COIN): closed Friday at $245.12 (+2.47%), pre-market up 1.87% at $249.71
- Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $86.13 (+6.35%), +1.73% at $87.66
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $24 (+6.62%), +3.37% at $24.81
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $44.60 (+4.01%), +1.84% at $45.42
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $10.18 (+5.06%), +1.67% at $10.35
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $14.5 (+8.37%), +1.86% at $14.77
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $15.6 (+7.14%), +1.79% at $15.88
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $12.03 (+7.41%), +2.83% at $12.37
- CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $41.1 (+9.63%), +4.33% at $42.88
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $15.51 (+1.97%), -0.45% at $15.44
Crypto Treasury Companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $164.82 (+4.16%), +2.32% at $168.65
- Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $17.93 (+4.79%), +3.07% at $18.48.
- SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $9.81 (+8.76%), +2.45% at $10.05
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $2.08 (+10.64%), +1.92% at $2.12
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.43 (+5.93%), +2.1% at $1.46
ETF Flows
Spot BTC ETFs
- Daily net flows: -$158.3 million
- Cumulative net flows: $57.39 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~1.31M
Spot ETH ETFs
- Daily net flows: -$75.9 million
- Cumulative net flows: $12.46 billion
- Total ETH holding ~6.09 million
Source: Farside Investors
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