Bitcoin hovered around $90,000 this week as the Fed cut rates, US spot Bitcoin ETF flows turned net-positive, and banks expanded access—here’s what moved BTC and what analysts expect next.
Bitcoin spent the week of December 8–14, 2025 wrestling with a familiar theme: big narratives, tight trading ranges, and sudden volatility bursts. After briefly pushing toward the mid-$90,000s early in the week, BTC slid back below $90,000 amid a broader risk-off move tied to tech and AI sentiment, before stabilizing again into the weekend.
As of Sunday, Dec. 14, Bitcoin was trading around $90,185, roughly flat with the psychological $90,000 level that has repeatedly acted as a magnet for both bulls and bears.
Bitcoin price snapshot: where BTC traded from Dec. 8 to Dec. 14
Across the week, daily data shows a choppy but contained range:
- Weekly high: about $94,591 (Dec. 9)
- Weekly low: about $89,324 (Dec. 11)
- Net change (Dec. 8 close to Dec. 14): roughly -0.44% (based on daily closes) [1]
That tight range matters for SEO-minded readers asking “why is Bitcoin price stuck?” Because despite major headlines—central bank policy, institutional adoption, and new forecasts—the market is still digesting October’s shock and November’s drawdown, and it’s become unusually sensitive to shifts in broader risk appetite. [2]
What moved Bitcoin this week: the 5 biggest catalysts
1) The Fed cut rates—but signaled a slower path ahead
The week’s biggest macro catalyst arrived Wednesday with the Federal Reserve’s Dec. 10 decision, which lowered the federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage points. In its statement, the Fed emphasized that economic activity is expanding at a moderate pace, job gains have slowed, and inflation remains “somewhat elevated.” [3]
The key twist for crypto traders: the Fed cut, but messaging remained cautious, and policymakers projected only one cut in 2026, reinforcing the idea that the easy-money tailwind isn’t guaranteed. [4]
Why it mattered for Bitcoin: BTC has increasingly traded like a high-beta risk asset, reacting not just to cuts, but to the expected future path of liquidity.
2) AI jitters hit risk appetite—Bitcoin dipped below $90,000
On Dec. 11, Bitcoin briefly fell back under $90,000 as a broader risk-off wave hit markets. Reuters tied the move to renewed concerns about whether heavy AI infrastructure spending is translating into profits, after Oracle’s outlook disappointed investors—dragging tech sentiment and, with it, crypto. [5]
Reuters noted Bitcoin was down about 2.5% to ~$90,056 at the time, while ether fell more sharply—an intraday snapshot that captured how quickly crypto’s mood can turn when equities wobble. [6]
3) US spot Bitcoin ETF flows were volatile—but ended net positive
Spot Bitcoin ETF flows stayed front-and-center because they’re increasingly treated as a real-time proxy for institutional demand.
Daily net flows (US$m) for the week show a tug-of-war:
- Dec. 8:-60.4
- Dec. 9:+151.9
- Dec. 10:+223.5
- Dec. 11:-77.5
- Dec. 12:+49.1
That totals roughly +$286.6 million net inflows across those five sessions. [7]
The takeaway: even though Bitcoin struggled to reclaim higher levels, demand didn’t vanish—it flickered, responding to macro headlines and risk sentiment.
Zooming out beyond ETFs, CoinShares reported $716 million in weekly inflows into global digital asset investment products, with inflows across major assets and a reported AUM around $180.2 billion—evidence that institutions haven’t simply “moved on,” even amid drawdowns. [8]
4) Big bank adoption headline: PNC expands direct spot Bitcoin access
In one of the week’s clearest mainstream-adoption signals, PNC Bank announced direct spot Bitcoin trading for eligible PNC Private Bank clients, powered by Coinbase’s Crypto-as-a-Service platform. PNC framed it as a way to provide Bitcoin access “in a controlled and familiar environment,” and Coinbase said the expanded partnership builds on a strategic relationship announced in July 2025. [9]
For Bitcoin’s price narrative, this matters less as an immediate “pump catalyst” and more as confirmation of a longer-term trend: Bitcoin exposure is moving deeper into traditional finance plumbing, especially for wealth management clients.
5) Corporate treasury buying: Strategy returned to “big purchases,” but questions linger
On the corporate side, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) reported a major Bitcoin purchase that became a focal point for both bulls and skeptics.
In an SEC filing, the company disclosed it acquired 10,624 BTC for about $962.7 million from Dec. 1–7, at an average price of $90,615 per bitcoin, taking total holdings to 660,624 BTC as of Dec. 7. [10]
Even so, multiple analyses this week argued the market is becoming less willing to price corporate “Bitcoin treasury” strategies at large premiums—one reason some forecasters now think ETF demand will matter more than corporate accumulation for the next leg higher. [11]
The week’s most talked-about Bitcoin forecasts
Standard Chartered halves its bull case—for now
One of the most widely cited forecast changes during Dec. 8–14 came from Standard Chartered’s digital assets research team.
Business Insider reported that Standard Chartered cut its end‑2025 Bitcoin target to $100,000 (from $200,000), and cut its end‑2026 target to $150,000 (from $300,000). It also laid out longer-term targets that still imply major upside, including $500,000 by 2030. [12]
Reuters added the key reasoning: Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick said buying by “Bitcoin digital asset treasury companies” is likely over, and that future increases may be driven mainly by ETF buying—a sharp reframing of the “who is the marginal buyer?” debate. [13]
Options markets: bearish odds cooled slightly, but caution remains
Reuters also reported that options traders had eased the most extreme downside hedges in recent weeks, but still assigned meaningful downside risk—citing a roughly 15% probability Bitcoin finishes the year below $80,000 (as of late the prior week). [14]
This is important context for readers searching “Bitcoin price prediction December 2025”: the market isn’t positioned for a one-way rebound. It’s positioned for two-way volatility.
Macro-driven range forecasts: “watch the next central bank and data prints”
FXEmpire’s Sunday analysis emphasized that Bitcoin’s next move may depend on a three-way push and pull:
- Bank of Japan rate-hike expectations (and the risk of a yen carry unwind)
- US macro data and how it changes Fed-cut expectations
- ETF flow consistency as a stabilizer around $90,000 [15]
Timeline: Bitcoin price news and analysis, day by day (Dec. 8–14)
Dec. 8 (Mon):
- Strategy disclosed a major weekly purchase (Dec. 1–7) totaling 10,624 BTC at ~$90,615 average. [16]
- US spot Bitcoin ETF flows were net negative that day (-$60.4m). [17]
Dec. 9 (Tue):
- PNC announced direct spot Bitcoin trading for eligible private bank clients, powered by Coinbase. [18]
- Bitcoin printed the week’s local high (around $94.6k intraday). [19]
- ETF flows turned positive (+$151.9m). [20]
Dec. 10 (Wed):
- The Fed cut rates 25 bps; official statement emphasized moderated growth and elevated inflation. [21]
- ETF inflows spiked (+$223.5m), the largest daily inflow of the week. [22]
Dec. 11 (Thu):
- Bitcoin dipped below $90,000 as AI/tech risk sentiment soured after Oracle’s outlook; Reuters also highlighted Standard Chartered’s forecast cut. [23]
- ETF flows swung negative (-$77.5m). [24]
- Daily low for the week printed around $89.3k. [25]
Dec. 12 (Fri):
- Reuters reported a major regulatory development: the OCC conditionally approved national trust bank charters for Circle and Ripple and conditionally approved conversion applications from BitGo, Paxos and Fidelity Digital Assets (charters would allow custody and payments functions but not deposits or loans). [26]
- ETF flows returned to positive (+$49.1m). [27]
Dec. 13 (Sat):
- Reuters reported Strategy retained its place in the Nasdaq 100, extending its presence despite debate about whether its model resembles a fund more than a traditional operating company. [28]
Dec. 14 (Sun):
- Bitcoin traded around $90,185, stabilizing after the week’s volatility bursts.
What Bitcoin traders and investors are watching next week
If you’re tracking “Bitcoin price outlook” into mid‑December, the next catalysts highlighted across the week’s research coverage include:
- Macro data resets: US jobs and inflation releases can reshape rate-cut expectations quickly. [29]
- Bank of Japan policy risk: higher Japanese yields and BoJ decisions can pressure global risk assets via yen carry dynamics. [30]
- ETF flow consistency: the market has shown it can handle volatility when flows remain net supportive—and struggle when outflows persist. [31]
Bottom line
From Dec. 8–14, 2025, Bitcoin’s price action looked deceptively calm on the surface—hovering around $90,000—while the narrative underneath stayed intense: a Fed cut with a “slower-easing” message, a sudden risk-off move tied to AI worries, net-positive but volatile ETF demand, and major steps toward mainstream banking access.
The week ended with BTC still range-bound, and that’s arguably the most important signal for Google Discover readers: the next big move may depend less on a single headline and more on whether liquidity, risk sentiment, and ETF demand align at the same time.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice.
References
1. ng.investing.com, 2. www.reuters.com, 3. www.federalreserve.gov, 4. www.reuters.com, 5. www.reuters.com, 6. www.reuters.com, 7. farside.co.uk, 8. coinshares.com, 9. pnc.mediaroom.com, 10. www.sec.gov, 11. www.reuters.com, 12. www.businessinsider.com, 13. www.reuters.com, 14. www.reuters.com, 15. www.fxempire.com, 16. www.sec.gov, 17. farside.co.uk, 18. pnc.mediaroom.com, 19. ng.investing.com, 20. farside.co.uk, 21. www.federalreserve.gov, 22. farside.co.uk, 23. www.reuters.com, 24. farside.co.uk, 25. ng.investing.com, 26. www.reuters.com, 27. farside.co.uk, 28. www.reuters.com, 29. www.fxempire.com, 30. www.fxempire.com, 31. farside.co.uk
