Christmas lull? Major cryptos down as investors appear to be taking profits

Despite being just a day away from Christmas Eve, the crypto market shows no signs of recovery, as Bitcoin, the flagship crypto asset, has failed to stay above $100,000.

Crypto prices continue to show a lackluster response from investors despite approaching Christmas Eve—a period that has historically seen most crypto assets rally, reaching new all-time highs and contributing to the festive mood.

Bitcoin (BTC), which reached a new all-time high of over $108,000 just six days ago, has struggled to reclaim the $100K mark for the past three days. The flagship cryptocurrency has been down 8.3% over the past week, trading at $95,904 per coin. Other high-cap coins were also observed in a similarly subdued state.

Ethereum (ETH) has fallen by 15.6% over the past 7 days, currently trading at $3,339. Meanwhile, XRP, linked to Ripple, has also experienced a notable 7.8% decline during the same period, now trading at $2.2.

Meanwhile, the leading meme coin by market cap, Dogecoin (DOGE), has plummeted by over 21% in the past week, with its price currently hovering around $0.316. Additionally, Solana (SOL) has fallen below the $200 mark, tanking by 16% to a current price of $184.

The weekly crypto charts of other leading crypto assets are also awash in red, with the broader market still down 14% from its all-time high of $3.9 trillion, currently standing at $3.41 trillion, according to data from CoinGecko.

Looking at these charts, it seems investors have chosen to take early profits from their investments ahead of Christmas Eve.

Despite a significant sell-off over the past week, the crypto market might not be done surprising investors just yet. Historically, a post-Christmas rally, often dubbed the ‘Santa Claus rally,’ has brought festive cheer to traders.

According to a CoinGecko report, this rally, which typically unfolds between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2, has occurred 8 out of 10 times over the past decade, from 2014 to 2023. During these periods, the overall crypto market cap recorded gains ranging from 0.69% to 11.87%—offering a glimmer of hope amid the recent market downturn. 

However, this time around, the chances of a post-Christmas rally hinge largely on Bitcoin, which is currently dictating the market’s direction. The downturn over the past week was driven primarily by BTC’s drop below the $100,000 mark, and as such, if the flagship crypto manages to reclaim that level this week, it could reignite investor confidence and set the stage for a broader market rebound.

As previously reported by crypto.news, Bitcoin remains undervalued according to the MVRV-Z score, which currently sits below historical thresholds associated with overvaluation. This leaves room for recovery in the coming weeks.

Market pundits have repeatedly pointed out that corrections are normal during prolonged Bitcoin rallies. Meanwhile, experts from VanEck speculate that Bitcoin will re-enter its price discovery phase following the recent correction and expect BTC to hit as high as $180,000 by Q1 2025.

At press time, Bitcoin was down 1.1% in the past 24 hours, exchanging hands at $95,870 per coin.