Bitcoin fell below $86,000 for the first time in two weeks, dropping about 30% from its historical high.

On Monday, Bitcoin fell below the $86,000 mark for the first time in two weeks, as market sentiment continued to weaken and investors' risk appetite for crypto assets clearly cooled. The world's largest cryptocurrency is further slipping into bear market territory, with prices under continued pressure. Analysts pointed out that Bitcoin has been continuously approaching the lower end of its previous trading range in recent weeks, with each rebound almost always met with selling pressure, mainly from investors who entered near the historical highs in early October. On Monday, Bitcoin fell by 3.7% at one point during trading, hitting a low of $85,154.87, down about 30% from its historical high of over $126,000 in early October this year. Bohan Jiang, a senior derivatives trader at FalconX, stated that Bitcoin has been volatile within a narrow range of $85,000 to $94,000 recently, with overall trading interest insufficient and low trading volumes in the crypto market, making it difficult to generate effective rebound momentum. In recent weeks, Bitcoin has been trending downward in sync with other risk assets, but has not followed suit when stocks and some risk assets rebounded, breaking its previous positive correlation. Analysts believe that this performance highlights that in an environment of weak liquidity and declining risk appetite, even the Fed's announcement of rate cuts last week failed to effectively boost the popularity of digital asset markets. As the last full trading week of 2025 begins, global financial market volatility is intensifying. With key economic data about to be released that may affect the future interest rate path of the Fed, the US stock market, bond market, and the dollar are showing hesitation. The weakness in crypto assets on Monday is seen as a result of their re-establishment of linkage with traditional risk assets, with the impact of last Friday's decline in US stocks continuing to ferment over the weekend and on Monday. Chris Newhouse, head of research at decentralized finance research firm Ergonia, pointed out that this round of declines is different from the previous rapid sell-offs, mainly driven by adjustments in spot and derivative positions rather than massive forced liquidation triggering a chain reaction. The clearing data is relatively mild, indicating that highly leveraged positions have been basically liquidated, and the current market is facing a more "gentle but potentially more prolonged" selling pressure. With a lack of typical clearing peaks and difficulties in attracting bottom-fishing funds, the market is showing a "bottoming" characteristic of slowly descending in a thin liquidity environment, with greater difficulties in reversing the trend. Jiang also stated that Bitcoin and the overall crypto market are still following the weakness of US stocks, with the synchronous decline of Bitcoin confirming the trend as US stocks rise and fall during the US trading session. Despite market pressure, Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR.US) continues to increase its holdings of Bitcoin. The company disclosed on Monday that it has spent nearly $1 billion for the second consecutive week to buy Bitcoin. Strategy stated that the funds for this round of purchases mainly came from its Class A common stock market price issuance (ATM). However, critics in the market point out that the continuous issuance of stock financing may dilute existing shareholder rights and weaken the premium enjoyed by the stock relative to its holdings of approximately $590 billion in Bitcoin. The company also sold three out of four classes of its perpetual preferred stock to support the purchasing plan. Other crypto assets experienced more significant declines on Monday. Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Ripple all fell by about 5%, with crypto-related stocks also under pressure. Strategy's stock price fell by over 9% at one point, while Coinbase (COIN.US) dropped by more than 6%.