Bitcoin Struggles to Stay Above $87,000 as Ethereum Leads Top-10 Losses

Markets continued their decline Tuesday, Dec. 16, with Bitcoin and most of the top-20 assets by market cap in the red. Total crypto market cap is just above $3 trillion, down from over $4 trillion in October.

As of press time today, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading just above $87,000, dipping as low as $85,400 in the past 24 hours and down about 1% on the day.

Among the top-10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, Ethereum (ETH) got hit the hardest over the past 24 hours, down 3.5% to $2,940. XRP is trading around $1.93, and Solana (SOL) near $128, and TRON (TRX) around $0.28, all seeing losses of 1% or less today. BNB is the exception among the large-caps today, gaining 0.7%.

Vulnerable Market

Analysts at glassnode noted in a weekly research note published on Monday that momentum weakened over the past week, with the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) moving toward neutral levels. On-chain data looks mixed as active addresses dipped a bit, but adjusted transfer volume jumped above the usual range, showing more capital moving around.

“Bitcoin’s rejection from $94K has reinforced a risk-off, consolidation-driven regime,” the analysts said, adding that conviction among traders “remains uneven, leaving the market vulnerable to further downside or prolonged range-bound trade until stronger demand emerges.”

As of Tuesday morning, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index shows investors deep in “extreme fear,” a streak that has held steady throughout the past week.

Big Movers and Liquidations

Looking at the top-100 assets by market cap, Canton (CC) and Provenance Blockchain (HASH) led gainers with around 4% gains today.

On the downside, pumpfun (PUMP) fell nearly 11% on the day, and Aster (ASTER) dropped 7.2%. For PUMP, the decline comes as a U.S. class action lawsuit against the Solana‑based token launchpad platform escalated. Plaintiffs allege the launchpad ran a scheme that let insiders profit from memecoin launches at the expense of ordinary investors.

Meanwhile, crypto traders faced roughly $582 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, per data from Coinglass. Long positions made up $487 million, while shorts totaled $95 million. Liquidations were almost equally split across BTC and ETH, with ETH slightly leading at $200 million.

ETFs and Macro Conditions

On Monday, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $357.7 million, leaving cumulative inflows at $57.55 billion and total net assets at $112.27 billion, per SoSoValue data. Over the same period, spot Ethereum ETFs saw $224.8 million flow out, with cumulative inflows at $12.86 billion and total assets at $18.27 billion.

In contrast, more recently launched XRP and SOL ETF products in the U.S. saw net inflows yesterday, with XRP ETFs’ cumulative total net inflows crossing the $1 billion mark.

On the macro side, U.S. payrolls grew by 64,000 in November, beating expectations of 45,000 and bouncing back from a 105,000 drop in October, CNBC reported. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, its highest since September 2021. The S&P 500 dipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq fell 0.2%.

In a Monday note, Keyrock analysts said that with home prices falling, extra rental supply building, and crude trending lower, the inflation scare “looks increasingly behind us.”

They suggested that the Fed “will likely need to cut at least two more times in 2026 to reach something closer to neutral, and the re-emergence of Treasury purchases reinforces that the liquidity impulse is quietly turning more supportive.”