Bitcoin price: Continuing upward momentum
As of 5:12 PM today (December 31st), Bitcoin - the world's largest electronic currency - according to market value increased by 0.75%, reaching 88,591.51 USD.
This new price contributed to keeping market capitalization unchanged, trading at the milestone of 1,769 billion USD, an increase of 19 billion USD. Meanwhile, trading volume in 24 hours decreased to 33.48 billion USD.
Perspectives and forecasts
Bitcoin prices enter 2026 with many mixed predictions. Some people predict prices could skyrocket to $200,000. Meanwhile, more cautious people such as veteran trader Peter Brandt warn of the possibility that prices will have to retest low levels before weakening further.
However, there are also opinions that recent declines are just a temporary "regulating" phenomenon before the upward trend returns.
Bitcoin is closing December in the red price zone. This was once meaningful in the past. Since 2022, every time Bitcoin closed December in red, January then reversed to increase in price. This model has laid the foundation for increases in 2025 - including the April 2025 increase, bringing BTC prices closer to the peak of 126,000 USD in October.
Currently, a similar scenario is gradually forming. And the reason why December is stained with negativity this time comes from the group of investors holding Bitcoin in the short term.
Mr. Hunter Rogers - co-founder of the global Bitcoin yield protocol TeraHash - emphasized the importance of this indicator: "In the notable on-chain signals, for me, the behavior of the short-term holding group compared to the stability of the long-term holding group is key. As long as long-term investors are firm, the cycle is still alive".
If the sell-off in April helped form the bottom and pave the way for Bitcoin to reach a new high, the problem is that a similar signal this time has not yet triggered an equivalent price increase response.
The answer is said to lie in the behavior of long-term holding investors.
And that leads to the crux of the matter when groups often get involved to absorb selling pressure - long-term investors and "elephants" this time have not really fully appeared. In fact, they have not yet returned clearly, making the preparation momentum to enter 2026 weaker.
Usually, when short-term investors are cautious, the long-term holding group will buy in, absorb supply, stabilize prices and start the next upward cycle. That is what happened in April 2025. At that time, the net accumulation of the long-term holding group reached a peak of 22,237 BTC in just one day and maintained a continuous positive state, creating a "cushion" for prices to recover. However, according to analysts, this time, that "cushion" is much thinner.
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