The cryptocurrency market remains in a consolidation phase during the holiday season, with subdued trading volumes and caution ahead of year-end events.
Bitcoin ($BTC ) is hovering around $88,000–$90,000, showing mild volatility but failing to sustain breaks above $90K.
Ethereum ($ETH ) is trading near $3,000, struggling below key resistance levels.
In 2025, many investors are asking an important question: should they trust the long-standing safety of gold, or choose Bitcoin, the symbol of the digital financial revolution? To answer this, it helps to look at how both assets are performing and what they offer in today’s changing market.
Over the past few years, global finance has faced major challenges. High inflation, geopolitical tensions, wars, and shifting government regulations have increased uncertainty. During such times, investors usually look for assets that can protect their wealth. Gold and Bitcoin have both attracted attention, but for very different reasons.
Gold – stability that has stood the test of time
Gold has been valued for thousands of years. It is seen as a safe haven, especially during economic crises. Investors trust gold because it is physical, scarce, and not controlled by any single government. It also helps protect against inflation, as its value often rises when paper currencies lose purchasing power.
In 2025, gold is trading around $4,000 per ounce, and its total market value is estimated between $20 and $28 trillion. Central banks, governments, and pension funds continue to hold gold as a core part of their reserves. While gold does not usually deliver explosive gains, it offers reliability and long-term security.
Bitcoin – the digital challenger
Bitcoin, created in 2009, is often called “digital gold.” Like gold, it is limited in supply only 21 million coins will ever exist. Bitcoin is also decentralized, easy to transfer across borders, and independent of traditional financial systems.
However, Bitcoin comes with much higher risk. Its price can rise or fall sharply within days. In 2025, Bitcoin is trading between $90,000 and $100,000, after correcting from a high of $126,000. This volatility scares some investors, but attracts others who are looking for high returns.
What can investors learn?
Gold offers stability and protection, while Bitcoin offers growth potential and innovation. Gold is better suited for conservative investors who want to preserve wealth. Bitcoin may appeal to those willing to accept risk in exchange for possible large gains.
For many investors in 2025, the smartest approach may not be choosing one over the other but balancing both, combining gold’s safety with Bitcoin’s upside potential in a diversified portfolio.
Whales are playing a key role in putting downward pressure on Bitcoin’s spot price.
According to ChainCatcher, market analyst Jeff Park says that long-term Bitcoin holders, often called “whales” or “OGs,” are playing a key role in putting downward pressure on Bitcoin’s spot price. These large investors are using a strategy known as selling covered call options, which is adding extra selling pressure to the market.
In simple terms, a covered call means that an investor who already owns Bitcoin sells call options on that Bitcoin. By doing this, the seller earns an option premium, which provides steady income even if Bitcoin’s price does not rise much. However, this strategy also limits the upside if prices go higher.
When whales sell a large number of call options, market makers the firms that buy these options need to protect themselves from risk. To hedge their exposure, market makers often sell Bitcoin in the spot market. This hedging activity increases the amount of Bitcoin being sold, which can push prices lower.
This process creates a situation where Bitcoin’s price faces pressure even when there is strong demand from traditional investors, such as those buying Bitcoin ETFs. While ETF inflows normally support prices, the hedging-related selling from market makers can offset that demand.
To understand this better, a call option gives the buyer the right but not the obligation to buy Bitcoin at a fixed price on a future date. The seller of the option collects a premium upfront. If the price stays below the strike price, the seller keeps the premium and the Bitcoin. Because many whales expect prices to remain range-bound in the short term, selling calls becomes an attractive strategy.
However, when done at scale, this strategy can weigh on the market. The combined effect of whales selling call options and market makers selling spot Bitcoin to hedge results in persistent downward pressure on prices, even without panic selling.
Jeff Park’s analysis suggests that Bitcoin’s current price weakness is not due to falling interest or lack of demand, but rather advanced trading strategies used by large, experienced holders. Until this options-related pressure eases, Bitcoin’s spot price may continue to struggle despite positive long-term fundamentals. #BTC $BTC
According to BlockBeats, data from Coinglass shows that funding rates on major centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges are still pointing to a bearish market sentiment. This means many traders expect prices to move lower rather than higher. The funding rates for major cryptocurrencies are shown in the related chart.
Funding rates are used mainly in perpetual futures contracts to keep the contract price close to the actual market price of the cryptocurrency. Instead of the exchange charging a fee, traders pay each other. Depending on market conditions, either long traders (who expect prices to rise) or short traders (who expect prices to fall) make these payments.
When the funding rate is positive, long traders pay short traders. This usually happens when there are more buyers than sellers, showing bullish sentiment. When the funding rate is negative or very low, short traders may pay long traders, which suggests that more traders are betting on prices going down.
In the crypto market, 0.01% is considered a normal or balanced funding rate. When funding rates rise above this level, it usually signals strong bullish sentiment, as many traders are willing to pay extra to keep their long positions open.
On the other hand, funding rates below 0.005% are seen as bearish. This indicates weaker demand for long positions and growing confidence among traders that prices may fall or remain under pressure.
The current data shows that funding rates across major exchanges remain below bullish levels. This suggests that traders are cautious and that bearish expectations continue to dominate the market for now.
Overall, the funding rate data highlights ongoing uncertainty in the crypto market, with traders waiting for clearer price direction before taking strong long positions.
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