Bitcoin Price Today, 1 December 2025: BTC Slumps Toward $86K as Crypto Starts December in Risk-Off Mode

Bitcoin has kicked off December 2025 on the back foot. On Monday, 1 December, BTC is trading around $86,000–$87,000, down roughly 5–7% over the last 24 hours, after briefly dipping toward the low‑$84,000s and failing to hold above $90,000. ^[1]

The drop extends a bruising November in which Bitcoin shed about $18,000 from its October all‑time high, leaving it slightly negative for the year despite earlier record prices. ^[2] Crypto market sentiment has swung to “extreme fear” as traders digest rising risk aversion in broader markets, record outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs and fresh concern around leverage and stablecoins. ^[3]

Below is a detailed look at Bitcoin’s price today, the key news from 1 December 2025, and the latest short‑term forecasts and technical levels analysts are watching.

1. Bitcoin Price Snapshot on 1 December 2025

Spot price and intraday action

Current price: Around $86,000–$87,000 as of Monday afternoon, 1 December 2025. ^[4]
24‑hour range: Roughly $84,000 at the low to a little above $91,000 at the high, before sellers pushed BTC back below $90,000. ^[5]
Daily change: Bitcoin is down around 5% on the day, marking its steepest one‑day fall in about a month. ^[6]
Market context: The wider crypto market is down about 5%, with Ether sliding roughly 6% toward $2,800. ^[7]

Major outlets describe it as a “plunge” to the mid‑$80,000s, with traders increasingly cautious after the sharp November drawdown. ^[8]

2. What’s Driving Today’s Bitcoin Sell‑Off?

a) Global “risk‑off” mood hits crypto

Equity markets are also in the red on the first trading day of December, with the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all slidingas investors rotate out of risk assets. ^[9]

Bitcoin has increasingly behaved like a high‑beta macro asset, moving with tech stocks rather than against them. Reuters notes that the recent drop fits into a broader shift toward risk aversion, with volatility falling and correlations between Bitcoin and stock indices ticking higher again. ^[10]

In simple terms: when investors get nervous about the economy, they’re selling both equities and crypto, and BTC is getting caught in that downdraft.

b) ETF outflows and liquidity thinning

One of the starkest datapoints heading into December is the record outflow from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. Reuters reports that these vehicles saw around $3.4 billion in net outflows in November, wiping out part of the inflow boom seen earlier in the year. ^[11]

At the same time, several analyses today — including from Coinpedia and other crypto research desks — highlight thin order‑book liquidity. That means relatively small market orders are moving the price more than usual, amplifying both sharp dumps and fast bounces. ^[12]

c) Leverage flush: hundreds of millions liquidated

According to Bloomberg, nearly $1 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated during today’s slide, as over‑leveraged long traders were forced out of the market. ^[13]

Other market trackers cited by crypto outlets put liquidations across the market at over $600 million in the last 24 hours, underscoring how heavily margined the market remained even after November’s losses. TS2 Tech+1

When that leverage unwinds, it can trigger cascade selling — one forced liquidation pushes the price lower, triggering more liquidations, and so on.

d) Stablecoin and corporate‑holder fears

Reuters also flags fresh concern around Tether (USDT) after S&P Global cut its rating, citing a growing share of higher‑risk assets and ongoing transparency questions. ^[14]

Since Tether is one of the primary liquidity channels for crypto, any perceived weakness there tends to spook traders and add to risk‑off flows across BTC and altcoins.

At the same time, markets are watching developments at Strategy Inc (widely seen as the successor to MicroStrategy), which now holds around 650,000 BTC on its balance sheet. AMBCrypto warns that the company’s stock has crashed and that a ratio of market value to Bitcoin holdings close to 0.9x could, in theory, put its BTC stash at “death spiral” risk if aggressive selling were forced. ^[15]

Even if such worst‑case scenarios don’t materialize, they add a narrative overhang: traders are asking, “What happens if a mega‑holder is forced to sell into a thin market?”

e) High‑profile commentators and “cycle top” worries

Mainstream voices are piling in on today’s drop:

Jim Cramer described Bitcoin’s start to December as “horrible” after BTC fell by about $4,000 in minutes, arguing that speculative flows — not fundamentals — drove the recent rally. ^[16]
Veteran trader Peter Brandt reiterated that Bitcoin could still see a 75% correction from the cycle high if history repeats, pointing to earlier halving cycles that were followed by deep bear markets. ^[17]
A Seeking Alpha analysis published today claims that Bitcoin may have already peaked this cycle around $126,000, this time without a classic blow‑off top. ^[18]

Taken together, these narratives fuel the idea that the easy part of the cycle might be over, increasing anxiety among late‑cycle buyers.

3. Key Bitcoin Technical Levels on 1 December 2025

Multiple technical reports out today broadly agree on a cluster of critical support and resistance zones.

Support zones

$86,000 area:
BraveNewCoin and Coinpedia both flag $86K as the first crucial line in the sand. If BTC can hold this level into the daily close, the odds of a range‑bound December rather than a full‑blown breakdown improve. ^[19]
Mid‑$80,000s (~$84,000–$85,000):
Intraday analysis from U.Today shows BTC testing support near $84,754, with the daily volatility range mostly exhausted for now. ^[20] Coinpedia similarly warns that failure to reclaim $86K could see the price drift toward the $83K–$85K zone. ^[21]
$80,000 “must hold”:
Several analysts call $80K the “line between correction and deeper bear trend”. BraveNewCoin notes that defending $80K would likely limit the damage to a standard mid‑cycle correction; a clean break below increases the risk of testing significantly lower levels. ^[22]

Resistance and upside targets

$90,000–$93,000:
DailyForex’s BTC/USD forecast points to strong overhead resistance near $94K, while BraveNewCoin stresses that bulls need a breakout above roughly $93K to re‑assert upside momentum. ^[23]
$91,000–$96,000 potential rebound band:
Coinpedia’s December roadmap suggests that if BTC can hold the $86K support, a rebound toward $91K–$96Kremains plausible in the coming weeks, with even a tentative shot at retesting six‑figure levels later — assuming macro conditions cooperate. ^[24]

In short, today’s slide places BTC right on top of a major support cluster. Bulls want to see the daily candle hold above the mid‑$80Ks; bears are eyeing $80K and below.

4. Short‑Term Bitcoin Forecast: Next 24–72 Hours

Scenario 1 – Base case: Choppy range between $83K and $93K

Many technical strategists expect range‑bound price action in the very near term, with $83K–$86K acting as support and $90K–$93K as resistance:

DailyForex describes BTC as struggling beneath structural resistance, with priceaction consistent with either a broad consolidation or a deeper slide if support fails. ^[25]
Coinpedia’s framework implies more “back‑and‑forth” while liquidity remains thin, with fake‑out rallies and sharp dips both possible within this band. ^[26]

In this base case, traders can expect volatile but sideways trading, with aggressive moves in either direction fading near these key levels.

Scenario 2 – Short‑term rebound: Buy signal as soon as Tuesday?

A MarketWatch/ Morningstar piece cites a technical analyst who is watching for a buy signal as early as Tuesday, based on proprietary indicators suggesting the decline may be overdone in the short run. ^[27]

That bullish near‑term view lines up with:

Oversold conditions on intraday timeframes after a fast 6–8% drop. ^[28]
The historical tendency for sharp liquidation events to be followed by relief rallies, once forced sellers have been flushed out. ^[29]

Under this scenario, BTC could reclaim $90K and make another attempt at the $93K–$94K resistance band in the coming days — but sustaining that breakout would likely require calmer macro data and a pause in ETF outflows.

Scenario 3 – Bearish continuation: Break of $83K and $80K

On the other side, a cluster of bearish analyses argues that the recent top around $120K–$126K may have marked the cycle high, and that the current pullback could be the start of a larger downtrend:

BraveNewCoin previously highlighted a potential head‑and‑shoulders pattern with a neckline in the low‑$80Ks. A clear daily close below that region would strengthen the case for a deeper correction. ^[30]
Peter Brandt’s historical study of past Bitcoin cycles points out that 70–80% drawdowns from cycle highs have been common; that would imply plenty of downside potential if the top is in. ^[31]

In this bearish continuation scenario, traders are watching:

$83K: first confirmation that the current support zone is failing. ^[32]
$80K: a break below this level on strong volume could open the door to mid‑$70Ks or lower over the next several weeks.

5. December 2025 Outlook: History vs. Macro Reality

Historically, December is often kind to Bitcoin…

Historically, Bitcoin has delivered strong average returns in December. Reuters notes that, over past years, BTC has posted an average December gain of roughly 9–10%, although with very large swings in both directions. ^[33]

Older cycles also show that December can host both euphoric blow‑off tops and brutal reversals, so the month’s reputation as “Santa rally season” is hardly guaranteed.

…but 2025 is starting from a weak footing

This year is different in several ways:

YTD performance: Despite hitting new all‑time highs in early October, Bitcoin is slightly negative for 2025, down about 5% year‑to‑date. ^[34]
ETF dynamics: Instead of fresh inflows, spot Bitcoin ETFs are now seeing sustained outflows, suggesting some institutional players are de‑risking rather than adding exposure at these levels. ^[35]
Macro backdrop: A widely watched CryptoNews forecast ties Bitcoin’s next big move to a potential “$6.6 trillion Fed flip” — a shift from tight policy to more aggressive easing — with bulls arguing that any hint of that could reignite the BTC uptrend. ^[36]

Long‑term projection pieces, like the 2025–2040 roadmap from CryptoDnes, emphasize that Bitcoin’s structural story remains bullish over multiple halving cycles, but they also stress that the path is likely to include deep cyclical drawdowns and multi‑year consolidations. ^[37]

6. What Traders and Investors Should Watch Next

Whether you’re trading Bitcoin in the short term or holding it for the long haul, today’s move and the 1 December 2025 analysis suggest a few key things to monitor:

Price levels
- Support: $86K, then the $83K–$85K band, and finally the big psychological $80K level.
- Resistance: $90K first, then $93K–$94K as the main ceiling that needs to break for any renewed uptrend. ^[38]
ETF flows and on‑chain data
- Continued outflows from spot ETFs would signal ongoing de‑risking.
- Any sign of stabilizing inflows or renewed accumulation by long‑term holders could support the bullish case later in December. ^[39]
Macro headlines
- Inflation data, Fed commentary and equity market volatility will likely remain major drivers of Bitcoin’s direction, as today’s risk‑off session clearly shows. ^[40]
Leverage and liquidations
- Elevated futures funding rates and open interest make the market more fragile. Rapid liquidation spikes — like today’s near‑$1B flush — can create both sharp dumps and V‑shaped bounces. ^[41]

7. Bottom Line: High Volatility, Wide Forecast Range

On 1 December 2025, the consensus across major newsrooms and analysis desks is not that Bitcoin is definitively entering a new bear market — but that it is at a critical inflection point:

Bulls argue that today’s wash‑out is a necessary reset after an overheated rally and that support in the mid‑$80Ks, combined with any improvement in ETF flows and macro data, could set up a December relief rally back toward the low‑$90Ks or above. ^[42]
Bears counter that cycle‑top conditions are already in place and that repeated failures above $90K–$93K, plus macro risk, could ultimately drive BTC well below $80K in the weeks ahead. ^[43]

For now, Bitcoin remains a high‑volatility asset trading at historically elevated prices, and the forecasts for December 2025 range from a renewed push toward six‑figure territory to the opening stages of a 70%‑plus correction.

Important note

This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and speculative. Always do your own research and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before making investment decisions.