Bitcoin struggles to recover as year-end approaches

Digital currency holders are trying one more time to turn around losses before the year closes as Bitcoin climbed toward the $90,000 mark for the second day in a row on Tuesday before the increase stopped.

The largest cryptocurrency has been moving between roughly $85,000 and $95,000 after a drop in October that could result in its first yearly decline in three years. Since last December, the currency has fallen about 5%. Earlier in the year, it had risen around 30% and reached a record high in early October.

Jasper De Maere, who works as a desk strategist at Wintermute, said traders should expect big swings on low trading volume through New Year’s. He wrote on Tuesday that people should not read too much into very short-term patterns until normal market activity returns.

Trump policies shake crypto markets

The currency started 2024 with gains as people felt positive about the Trump administration’s support for digital currencies. However, concerns about President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which shook worldwide markets, hurt Bitcoin’s value. While other risky investments like American stocks bounced back, Bitcoin stayed down after Oct. 10, when a record amount of borrowed positions were cleared out.

Exchange-traded funds focused on Bitcoin have seen money flowing out, putting pressure on prices. These funds lost $6 billion in the final three months of the year as Bitcoin stayed under $90,000, based on Bloomberg Intelligence numbers.

Open interest surges despite low trading

As reported by Cryptopolitan previously, despite a 40% drop in trading during December, Open Interest in digital currencies jumped $2.4 billion in the same month. Data shows Bitcoin and Ethereum futures contracts grew from $35 billion to $38 billion, a 7% rise in borrowed trading.

Bitcoin Open Interest climbed from $22 billion to $23 billion this month. Ethereum’s Open Interest added $1.4 billion, going from $13 billion to $15 billion. CryptoQuant analysts pointed out that this happened with Bitcoin near $88,000 and the Fear Index at 37.

Big exchanges like Binance, OKX, and Bybit kept building positions through December. CryptoQuant says this shows traders are staying optimistic instead of throwing in the towel.