Bitcoin caps dismal week as price wallows 50% below its all-time high
Bitcoin sign in Times Square in New York, December 9, 2025.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
How did Bitcoin perform last year?
A recovery in Bitcoin or the characteristic dip buying of investors has not yet occurred. It was last traded at $62,500, which means it has fallen by about half since its all-time high of $126,000 in October 2025; that’s a 50% drop in just ten months.
As of now, Bitcoin is hovering just above the psychologically important $60,000 threshold. It was last traded below $60,000 on September 18, 2024.
Charles-Henry Monchau, chief investment officer of Syz Group, said Bitcoin’s recent weekly decline was due to the Strategy’s forced selling and the crowding out effect of hot money chasing other assets.
“Speculators are focusing on AI stocks and memory chips, especially in Korea, and the market is also anticipating that upcoming giant IPOs will move some of the retail money into new stocks,” Monchau told CNBC via email.
In addition, the crypto market structure bill known as the Openness Act, which was the key catalyst for renewed investor interest in Bitcoin, is falling out of reach as legislative priorities shift and lawmakers remain divided on the bill’s key provisions.
The stock market soared to new records as uncertainty surrounding the Iran war weighed on Bitcoin. This divergence is causing investors to question both of Bitcoin’s dominant narratives: that it is “digital gold” that should benefit from geopolitical uncertainty, and that it trades like a high-beta tech stock.
“We saw the 30-day Pearson correlation between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 achieve a near-perfect positive correlation just a month ago, but that has collapsed over the last few weeks,” Rajiv Sawhney, head of international portfolio management at Wave Digital Assets, told CNBC via email.
“So while global stocks, especially tech stocks, continue to hit all-time highs, Bitcoin has failed to follow the same upward price trend.”
Others see the latest moves as an opportunity to buy the dip. Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Friday, Strive Chief Executive Officer Matt Cole said Bitcoin’s fundamentals have “never been better.”
“This is the fifth time Bitcoin has reached the 200-week moving average; the previous four were excellent times to buy the dip, and I think it will do the same this time around,” he added.
