Christmas has officially kicked off the holiday season.
Yet, investors still appear skeptical about “buying the dip.” Historically, the period from late December to early January is often a bullish window. Last cycle, for instance, saw nearly a $200 billion jump in TOTAL market cap.
This time, however, the cycle has started with a 0.82% dip, shedding nearly $30 billion. Still, given recent volatility, this outflow is relatively minor, suggesting that another Bitcoin [BTC] holiday rally isn’t off the table yet.
This volatility, shown in the chart, has sparked a “manipulation” debate.
For context, on the 24th of December, the BTC/USD1 pair on Binance briefly dumped from an $87k open to $24k, marking a sharp 73% drawdown. Notably, the timing of this move only added fuel to the narrative.
With holiday-thin liquidity and muted retail activity, attention turned to smart money driving prices in a short window. The question remains: Did this move derail the holiday rally, or did it reset Bitcoin for the next leg up?
BTC is clearly stuck in a tug-of-war, with $85k as its battlefield.
Sentiment-wise, the market is sitting in a “fear” zone, historically a strong accumulation phase. This shows that despite Binance’s manipulation moves, market FUD remained in control, creating a bullish divergence.
Supporting this move, BTC is showing a solid technical setup. With a 2.20% intraday gain, it is approaching the key $90k FOMO zone. Consequently, the short cluster is now at near-term risk of being wiped out.
In short, Bitcoin’s resilience against FUD is reinforcing its bid wall.
In this context, the recent whale activity on Binance (a sudden 73% drop followed by a quick rebound to $85k) played out like a classic liquidation move, shaking out weak hands and testing market conviction.
As a result, with that volatility behind it, Bitcoin’s 2.2% intraday surge looks solid, showing that strong hands are in control and the holiday rally for BTC remains on track, with $85k acting as its launchpad.
