Bitcoin held near $89,127 in thin Boxing Day trade as Asian stocks edged higher and silver stayed in the spotlight after notching fresh record highs this week, with investors still leaning into the year-end risk bid.
With several Asia Pacific exchanges shut for the holiday, investors took cues from the last full session, when MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.35%.
Crypto traders framed the quieter tape as a liquidity story as much as a macro one. Gabriel Selby, head of research at CF Benchmarks, said Bitcoin remained pinned under a key level as markets drift into the seasonal lull.
“Bitcoin has struggled to break above the $90k level during a busy schedule of macroeconomic data releases, and price action appears to be forming a bearish wedge with downside risk,” he said.
“As we head into the holiday period, trading volumes are following their usual seasonal lull, which typically reinforces the choppy, high-resistance environment currently observed.”
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Bitcoin: $89,127, up 1.5%
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Ether: $2,965, up 0.6%
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XRP: $1.87, up 0.00%
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Total crypto market cap: $3.07 trillion, up 0.9%
Wall Street’s late-week run kept the mood constructive. The Dow and the S&P 500 closed at record highs on Wednesday in a holiday-shortened session, with the Dow up 0.60% and the S&P 500 up 0.32%.
That same rally fed the seasonal narrative traders keep calling the Santa Claus rally, a window that often draws positioning flows into the final sessions of the year.
In commodities, silver continued to shine after pushing deeper into uncharted territory earlier in the week. Spot silver rose to an all-time high of $74.89 on Friday, driven by strong industrial demand and a supply deficit that has left the market tighter than traders expected.
Analysts tied the move to heavy usage in solar panels, electric vehicles and data centres, while mine supply struggled to keep up, and the metal also drew fresh safe haven demand as geopolitical risks flared.
Gold tracked the same flight to hedges, trading around $4,480 an ounce after setting a record above $4,500, with traders still pricing in a friendlier rate outlook next year.
Geopolitics kept the backdrop tense, with Washington’s pressure on Venezuelan oil flows feeding a wider bid for defensive assets.
Read original story Asia Market Open: Bitcoin Steady At $89k As Thin Trading Lifts Stocks, Silver Shines by Shalini Nagarajan at Cryptonews.com
