Asia Market Open: Bitcoin Holds $88K as Regional Markets Dip In Thin Year-End Trade

Bitcoin hovered near $88,000 on Wednesday as traders made another late push to tidy up year-end performance in a market that has struggled to find conviction after October’s leverage shock.

That wobble traces back to Oct. 10, when a cascade of forced liquidations cleared more than $19B of leveraged crypto positions in roughly a day, leaving spot markets cautious and derivatives traders quicker to de-risk.

Since then, attention has shifted to the marginal buyer, and the flow picture has turned less supportive.

Data cited by Bloomberg shows outflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have reached about $6B in the fourth quarter, keeping Bitcoin below $90,000 through the final stretch of December.

Market snapshot

• Bitcoin: $88,501, up 1.7%
• Ether: $2,974, up 1.6%
• XRP: $1.88, up 1.7%
• Total crypto market cap: $3.07 trillion, up 1.5%

Asia Markets Drift As Holiday Closures Loom

Tony Severino, a market analyst at YouHodler, argued that the six-figure breakout earlier this year did not carry the familiar peak cycle energy. “There was no broad euphoria. No parabolic retail frenzy.”

Thin liquidity set the tone across Asia too, with investors moving into holiday schedules and keeping risk positioning light.

Hong Kong trading stayed cautious, with local volumes running below the yearly average and the Hang Seng Index giving up ground ahead of the holiday.

Hong Kong and Australian markets are set for early holiday closes, while exchanges in Japan and South Korea remain closed for the session.

Fed Minutes Keep Rate Expectations Anchored

Zooming out, global equities still head into the close of 2025 with strong gains, and the MSCI All Country World Equity Index set a fresh high of 1,024.29 on Dec. 26, up about 21.24% over the past 12 months.

In the US, stocks traded choppily in holiday-thin conditions on Tuesday, and Meta shares climbed after the company said it would acquire AI startup Manus, adding another headline catalyst to a market searching for one.

Investors also parsed the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes, which showed a deeply divided debate behind December’s rate cut, with the next policy meeting scheduled for Jan. 27 to 28 and markets leaning toward a hold.

For crypto markets, the near-term question stays straightforward, whether fresh inflows return in early January, or whether thin liquidity keeps price action range-bound as Bitcoin tries to defend the mid-$80,000s into 2026.