Crypto Markets Drift Into Year-End With Bitcoin, Ethereum Range-Bound

• Liquidations stayed contained at $116 million, split almost evenly between long and short positions.
• Bitcoin is set to close its first post-halving year below its opening level.
• Solana and Binance Coin outperformed major peers, while Dogecoin and Cardano lagged among crypto majors.

The cryptocurrency market was muted in early morning trade on Wednesday, with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) showing little movement on the final trading day of 2025.

Bitcoin’s price gained 1% in the last 24 hours to trade at around $88,700. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency remained in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day, with chatter at ‘normal’ levels. 

Ethereum’s price traded flat in the last 24 hours at around $2,970. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the leading altcoin trended improved to ‘bearish’ from ‘extremely bearish’ over the past day amid ‘low’ levels of chatter.

The overall cryptocurrency market was also in the doldrums, rising just 0.6% over the last 24 hours and maintaining a valuation of over $3 trillion. CoinGlass data showed $116 million liquidations in the last 24 hours, with a near-even split between longs and shorts. Short bets on Bitcoin accounted for the bulk of the forced unwinds.

A Rough Go For Bitcoin

The range-bound trade continued despite a reversal in spot ETF flows on Tuesday, according to Farside data, with Bitcoin ETFs snapping a seven-day outflow streak and Ethereum ETFs ending four consecutive days of withdrawals. This is also shaping up to be the first time on record that Bitcoin will close a post-halving year in the red.

Altcoins Diverge At Year-End

Binance Coin (BNB) and Solana (SOL) outperformed Bitcoin and Ethereum with gains of more than 1% each. BNB’s price gained 1.4% in the last 24 hours, while Solana’s price rose 1.2%. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around BNB was trending in ‘bullish’ territory with ‘normal’ levels of chatter over the past day. Meanwhile, retail sentiment around Solana improved to ‘bearish’ from ‘extremely bearish’ as chatter rose to ‘normal’ from ‘low’ levels.

At the other end of the spectrum, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Cardano (ADA) led losses among major tokens. Dogecoin’s price dipped 1.5% in the last 24 hours, while Cardano’s price slipped 1.4%. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the leading memecoin remained in ‘neutral’ territory over the past day, even as chatter rose to ‘normal’ from ‘low’ levels. Cardano, on the other hand, saw retail sentiment trend in ‘bullish’ territory while chatter fell to ‘normal’ from ‘high’ levels over the past day.

Read also: Arthur Hayes Continues Ethereum Exit With Fresh $2 Million DeFi Token Buying Spree

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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