BTC Slumps Below $86K as ETF Selling Grows and Gold Surges

Key Highlights:

• Bitcoin (BTC) drops below the $86,000 mark today, December 16, 2025.
• Gold prices rise as investors move from risky assets to traditional safe haven.
• BTC ETFs experienced outflows on December 15, 2025.

On December 16, 2025, Bitcoin (BTC) fell sharply and was hovering around the $85,500 mark. In the past week, the token was hovering over the $90,000 mark but as the market sentiments turned negative, the token price dropped by almost 4%.

At press time, the price of the token stands at $86,203.36 with a dip of 3.8% within the last 24-hours as per CoinGecko.

One major reason for this drop is a heavy selling from Bitcoin ETFs. As per SoSoValue, BTC spot ETFs experienced an outflow of $357.69M on December 15, 2025. Big funds like BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC saw the largest withdrawals. This indicates that investors are reducing their exposure to BTC as of now.

Gold Surges as Investors Flock to Traditional Safe Havens

Yesterday, December 16, 2025, the gold price hit a seven-week high and hit $4,325 per ounce. The rise can be attributed to strong buying from central banks, especially in China and India, along with rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

When global risks increase, it is observed that the investors often rush toward assets that they consider to be safe and gold has been one of the oldest and most trusted options in this category.

According to analysts, gold’s rising performance this year is a clear indication of a move toward safety. Everyday investors and institutional investors are pulling money out of crypto and putting it into gold as Bitcoin goes through a price correction.

This reflects a common market pattern where stocks struggle and crypto prices fall, money flows into assets such as gold that tend to hold value during uncertainty.

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest Buys the Dip

ARK Invest used the recent BTC dip as a buying opportunity and put around $50 million in crypto related stocks. The biggest purchase was Bitmine Immersion Technologies, where ARK bought about 550,000 shares worth $18 million. It also added shares of Coinbase, Circle, CoreWeave, Block and other blockchain-focused companies.

For Ark Invest to buy these stocks, it sold $59 million worth of Tesla shares along with smaller reductions in SoFi, Shopify and Ibotta, however, Tesla still remains as its largest holding.

With these numbers, it is clear that Cathie Wood is doubling down on crypto and blockchain companies during the market dip, which shows confidence in their long-term growth even though the market is a bit choppy at the moment.

Bitcoin Caught Between Buyers and Sellers

Bitcoin analyst Charles Edwards said in a tweet that Bitcoin is stuck in a tug-of-war as of now. On one side, big companies and institutions are buying BTC heavily, especially through Coinbase and on the other side, early Bitcoin holders and long-term investors (old whales) are selling more than they have in years.

So even though a lot of new money is coming in, it is being absorbed by people cashing out, which is stopping the price from rising above.

Edwards explains that, based on Bitcoin’s core data, like how secure the network is and how much it is actually being used, Bitcoin looks very undervalued, which means that it appears cheap when compared to its true long-term worth. In short, the fundamentals say that Bitcoin should be priced higher.

However, there are still problems holding it back. Some Bitcoin-focused companies are trading at big discounts, and leverage in the system is rising. Because of this, many trading models are staying cautious for now.

From the entire post, it can be deduced that Bitcoin looks strong underneath the surface, but the price may stay under pressure until long-time holders finish selling. Once that selling slows down, Bitcoin could have more room to move higher.

Final Thoughts

Bitcoin appears to have a support near $84,000 and indicators suggest that the token might be oversold as RSI indicates 35 on the scale. This could trigger a short-term bounce. A move back toward $90,000 is possible if ETF outflows slow down and the gold prices cool off. However, continued selling by early holders is still limiting upside for now.

Also Read: Strategy Sells Stock to Buy 10,000+ Bitcoin, Treasury Grows