Why Is Crypto Down Today? – December 18, 2025

What Happened

Bitcoin’s volatility becoming more restrained, decreasing below the volatility of Nvidia shares in 2025, Bitwise says. According to the analysts, this shifts reflects a maturing and more diversified investor base.

“We must understand that cryptocurrencies will never become money within our country,” he said. “They can only be used as an investment instrument. If payment is required, it will only be in rubles.”

Fadi Aboualfa, Head of Research at Cooper, commented that Bitcoin has shown the same repeatable pattern in 2024 and 2025. Price hits all-time highs, corrects sharply, and “then finds support almost perfectly at its ETF investor cost basis before beginning the next expansion.”

Market Context

After a day of a very minor rise, the crypto market is down today. The cryptocurrency market capitalisation decreased by 1.5% and now stands at $3.01 trillion. Also, 95 of the top 100 coins have gone down over the past 24 hours. At the same time, the total crypto trading volume is at $129 billion.

At the time of writing, all top 10 coins per market capitalization have seen their prices decrease over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin (BTC) is down by just 0.3% since this time yesterday, currently trading at $86,722. This is the category’s smallest drop.

The highest drop is Dogecoin (DOGE)’s 5% to the price of $0.1245.

LEO Token (LEO) is at the top of the red list, having dropped 27.1% to the price of $6.58.

Midnight (NIGHT) is next with a 3.9% rise, now trading at $0.06385.

Meanwhile, Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, affirmed a strict ban on payments using crypto in the country.

“With BTC now trading near its $84,000 cost basis, that pattern points to a move north of $140,000 in the next 180 days. If cost basis rises 10% to 15% as in prior cycles, the resulting premium seen at past peaks produces a target range of $138,000 to $148,000.”

Moreover, Nick Forster, Founder at onchain options platform Derive.xyz, noted that markets continue to slide as we head into the New Year, “with prices sitting on a knife’s edge amid mixed U.S. economic data and persistent macro uncertainty.”

He says that BTC positioning remains decisively bearish. Traders are pricing continued downside risk through Q1 and Q2, as ongoing sell pressure from previously inactive wallets weighs on spot prices.

Why It Matters

“Institutions are not ‘staking sats’,” Aboualfa says. In fact, he argues, “most do not care about sats at all now that Bitcoin is accessible through equities-style ETF shares. They care about risk-adjusted contribution to a portfolio.”

“Looking into the December 26 expiry, positioning is increasingly polarised. On the upside, there is a notable build-up of calls at the $100K and $120K strikes, suggesting some traders are still holding out for a sharp relief rally. On the downside, bears have accumulated substantial put exposure at the $85K strike, pointing to expectations of BTC sliding below $85K in the near term.”

Details

Crypto Winners & Losers

Ethereum (ETH) is down by just 3.9%, now changing hands at $2,834.

XRP follows with a change of 4.6%, now standing at $1.84.

When it comes to the top 100 coins, 95 coins saw decreases. Of these, three are double-digit.

Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Pump.fun (PUMP) follow, with falls of 12% and 11.8%, currently changing hands at $23.94 and $0.002021.

On the green side, Canton (CC) appreciated the most: 5.6% to $0.07517.

BTC Hitting $140,000 in 180 Days

Notably, without rebalancing, a modest 2% BTC moves to 6.2% in less than 180 days during these cycles. “A 5% allocation drifts dangerously close to double-digit.”

The probability of NTC reaching $100,000 is now near 30%, while the chance of reclaiming ATHs sits at around 10%, Forster says.