Bitcoin’s $85K price battle – Why BTC’s holiday setup looks familiar

Christmas has officially kicked off the holiday season.

Yet, investors still appear skeptical about “buying the dip.” Historically, the period from late December to early January is often a bullish window. Last cycle, for instance, saw nearly a $200 billion jump in TOTAL market cap.

This time, however, the cycle has started with a 0.82% dip, shedding nearly $30 billion. Still, given recent volatility, this outflow is relatively minor, suggesting that another Bitcoin [BTC] holiday rally isn’t off the table yet.

This volatility, shown in the chart, has sparked a “manipulation” debate.

For context, on the 24th of December, the BTC/USD1 pair on Binance briefly dumped from an $87k open to $24k, marking a sharp 73% drawdown. Notably, the timing of this move only added fuel to the narrative. 

With holiday-thin liquidity and muted retail activity, attention turned to smart money driving prices in a short window. The question remains: Did this move derail the holiday rally, or did it reset Bitcoin for the next leg up?

Bitcoin continues to battle volatility this holiday season

BTC is clearly stuck in a tug-of-war, with $85k as its battlefield.

Sentiment-wise, the market is sitting in a “fear” zone, historically a strong accumulation phase. This shows that despite Binance’s manipulation moves, market FUD remained in control, creating a bullish divergence.

Supporting this move, BTC is showing a solid technical setup. With a 2.20% intraday gain, it is approaching the key $90k FOMO zone. Consequently, the short cluster is now at near-term risk of being wiped out.

In short, Bitcoin’s resilience against FUD is reinforcing its bid wall.

In this context, the recent whale activity on Binance (a sudden 73% drop followed by a quick rebound to $85k) played out like a classic liquidation move, shaking out weak hands and testing market conviction.

As a result, with that volatility behind it, Bitcoin’s 2.2% intraday surge looks solid, showing that strong hands are in control and the holiday rally for BTC remains on track, with $85k acting as its launchpad.

Final Thoughts

• Despite Binance whale-driven volatility, Bitcoin’s bid wall and bullish divergence signal accumulation and a healthy technical setup.
• The 2.2% intraday surge reinforces $85K as a launchpad, keeping the BTC holiday rally on track.