The crypto market chart looked greener on Wednesday as crypto assets roped-in year-end gains on December 31. Bitcoin price grew by 1.41 percent in the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, the most expensive cryptocurrency was trading at $88,348. While the asset has been trading under $90,000 for weeks, it did achieve an incredible feat with its ATH $126,000 that it touched in October this year.
Despite earlier highs above $126,000, Bitcoin risks closing the year in red, signaling consolidation rather than a cycle breakdown, market analysts said in conversation with Coin Headlines.
“Technically, in short term, BTC faces resistance at $90,000–$90,500, with support around $85,500, maintaining a range-bound bias. However, analysts expect renewed inflows once the Fed resumes easing in 2026. A dovish shift, improving liquidity, and stable macro conditions could reignite bullish momentum by Q2 2026, setting the stage for crypto’s next recovery phase,” said Riya Sehgal, Research Analyst, Delta Exchange.
Ether joined Bitcoin to reflect small profits of under two percent on Tuesday. Despite the profit, ETH failed to cross the $3,000 mark. At the time of writing, the second most expensive crypto asset was trading at $2,973.
“ETH remains weaker, capped below the $3,050 mark and vulnerable to a drop toward $2,850 if Bitcoin fails to hold support. The risk-off tone reflects a mix of macro caution and technical resistance,” Sehgal noted.
BNB, XRP, Solana, Cardano, Chainlink, Monero, and Avalanche registered small price gains of under two percent on Wednesday. While LEO price went up by nearly six percent over the last day bringing its value to $9.14, Canton rose by nearly 20 percent to retail at $0.1498.
The overall crypto market cap climbed by 1.05 percent over the last day. As of December 31, the valuation of the crypto market was clocked at $2.99 trillion, CoinMarketCap data showed.
Tron, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Hedera, Shiba Inu, and Uniswap roped-in small losses of under three percent over the last day.
“Asian equities eased after a seven-day rally, while investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s December meeting minutes for clues on 2026 rate policy. Precious metals also corrected sharply after hitting record highs, signaling broader profit-taking across markets. Heading into 2026, analysts expect consolidation to persist until liquidity and institutional inflows return, with macro policy signals and ETF flows likely to set the tone for Q1,” Sehgal added.