Bitcoin extended its slide on Monday, trading near $86,000 as the Coinbase Premium Index moved back below zero. The sub-zero reading points to softer U.S. buying interest amid rising volatility, while failed attempts to reclaim $92,000 and derisking in futures add to caution. A retest of the $82K–$84K area remains a risk if sentiment does not improve.

Bitcoin adviser and author Terence Michael cautioned the community after a client who had saved for years lost 1 BTC to a romance-style pig-butchering scam. In a post on X, he described how social engineering prevailed despite multi-signature safeguards and advisory interventions. The case underscores limits of custody tools when victims authorize transfers.

On Dec. 15, Bitcoin moved between roughly $88,600 and $89,800 while traders watched transfers from wallets tagged to Wintermute, a narrowing CME futures gap, and a test of rising daily chart support near $89,000. BTC traded about 1.68% lower on the BTC USDT pair, and some analysts warned that a breakdown of this trendline could open the way toward the $80,000 region even as resistance remains clustered around $92,000 to $95,000.

On 15 December 2025, veteran trader Peter Brandt argued that Bitcoin's long-observed parabolic cycle structure may no longer hold as the market matures. He pointed to slower, less sustainable rallies, earlier exhaustion near record highs, and the possibility of a much deeper pullback than many investors expect. In his view, Bitcoin now behaves more like a conventional global asset, with compressed returns and greater uncertainty around halving-driven booms.

American Bitcoin, backed by Eric Trump, has moved ahead of Anthony Pompliano's ProCap Financial in total corporate Bitcoin holdings after adding over 1,000 BTC since the start of December, bringing its stack to 5,044 BTC worth about $443 million. While both firms continue accumulating BTC and the top 100 public companies now hold more than 1.08 million BTC, their share prices and other Bitcoin proxy stocks have come under heavy pressure amid heightened market volatility.

On 15 December 2025, Bitcoin's network saw a rapid, measurable drop in hash rate, with rough estimates pointing to nearly one-tenth of computing power going offline. Mining executives described the move as abnormal, and industry insiders attribute it to localized shutdowns in western China. The protocol is expected to rebalance via difficulty adjustments.

Bitcoin dropped from the low $92,000 area to around $87,000 over the weekend as trading liquidity remained extremely thin. The move unfolded during slow Sunday hours while traders stayed cautious ahead of key economic data, and major altcoins also extended their double-digit monthly losses on muted volumes.

Market analyst Tony Severino from YouHodler says Bitcoin remains technically in an uptrend but is facing heavy resistance around the $100,000 area, which he views as a potential bull trap. He argues that failure to reclaim and hold above this level and a drop below the $74,000 support could confirm a bear market, with a possible downside target near $53,000. Severino also expects Ethereum to start outperforming Bitcoin and suggests that a shift in the ETH/BTC ratio could set the stage for a new altcoin phase in 2026.