Bitcoin led crypto markets lower Tuesday, down by about 1% over the past 24 hours to just below $88,000.

The decline came even as gold, silver and copper all surged to record highs (though have pulled back a bit in Tuesday afternoon trade). U.S. stocks are ahead modestly, the Nasdaq gaining 0.45%.

Crypto-related stocks were showing far steeper declines than what the drop in bitcoin might suggest.

The year's worst performers — digital asset treasury companies — were hardest hit across the board. Strategy (MSTR) was down 4.2%, XXI (XXI) off 7.8%, ETHZilla (ETHZ) lower by 16% and Upexi falling 9%.

Other sizable decliners included Gemini (GEMI), Circle (CRCL) and Bullish (BLSH), all off by about 6%.

Analysts at digital asset hedge fund QCP Capital flagged tax-loss harvesting as a potential driver of short-term action into the year-end, particularly in illiquid conditions. That means investors selling their underwater positions to realize losses, lowering their tax liabilities.

"The end of year typically sees PMs [portfolio managers] trimming their exposure to risk assets not just with upcoming holidays but also creating taxable events and year-end balance sheets that in some cases do not want to show cryptocurrency holdings," Paul Howard, senior director at trading firm Wincent explained.

QCP also noted the continued drop in open interest across BTC and ETH perpetual futures — falling by around $3 billion and $2 billion, respectively — has thinned leverage and left crypto markets more vulnerable to large price swings.

"This vulnerability is heightened by Friday’s record Boxing Day options expiry, which represents over 50% of Deribit’s total open interest," the firm said in a morning note. "While downside positioning has eased, the persistence of $100,000 calls suggests residual, if tentative, optimism for a Santa rally."

Still, QCP expects any sharp moves to fade into the new year: "Holiday-driven moves have historically tended to mean-revert, with price action often fading as liquidity returns in January."

Looking ahead for the next year, Wincent's Howard expects more consolidation without any imminent catalyst to retrace the decline from the early October highs.

"It will be many months before the asset class can retrace to a $4 trillion market cap" from the current $2.6 trillion, he said.