Bitcoin Slides Below $90K As Bad News Piles Up On All Sides

With input from Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, Forbes.

Bitcoin started the new month on the back foot, dropping more than 5% on Monday and slipping back below $90,000 as a wave of negative headlines and classic “risk-off” mood hit the entire crypto market.

By mid-morning in London, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency was trading around $86,700–$86,800, down roughly 5% on the day and not far from last month’s eight-month low near $80,500. At one point, it was off as much as 6%.

It caps a brutal stretch: bitcoin lost about $18,700 in November, its worst month since the 2021 crypto crash.

Ether and other major coins were dragged down too.

• Ether (ETH) was down around 6% near $2,840;
• Solana (SOL) dropped 7–8%;
• Dogecoin and other big-name tokens also sank in the mid- to high-single digits.

The global crypto market cap fell back under $3 trillion, well below its roughly $4.3 trillion peak in October.

Analysts say one big problem for bitcoin right now is how closely it’s trading in step with the stock market.

“Bitcoin tends to be a leading indicator for overall risk sentiment right now,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. “Its slide does not bode well for stocks at the start of this month.”

In other words, when investors get nervous about the broader economy, interest rates, or geopolitics, they’re increasingly selling both tech stocks and crypto in the same move.

A sharp drop in market volatility last week — with the VIX falling below its 12-month average — has actually unnerved some traders, who worry the calm won’t last heading into year-end.

Add in ongoing questions about future US rate cuts and wobbling sentiment around pricey AI and tech names, and you’ve got a classic risk-off backdrop that isn’t doing bitcoin any favors.

Beyond macro jitters, several crypto-negative headlines piled up over the last week — and they’re now weighing on bitcoin.

1. Tether Gets Hit With A Downgrade

S&P Global cut its assessment of USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin, to its lowest stability rating. The agency flagged:

• More exposure to higher-risk assets in Tether’s reserves;
• Ongoing “gaps in disclosure.”

Tether pushed back and said it “strongly disagrees,” but any questions about the main stablecoin in the system tend to spook crypto markets, since so much trading flows through it.

2. Big Bitcoin Holder Hints It Could Sell

Phong Le, CEO of Strategy Inc. — the biggest corporate owner of bitcoin, with a stash worth tens of billions — said on the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast that the company could sell some holdings if a key internal metric, called mNAV (enterprise value vs. bitcoin holdings), falls below 1.

Right now, that ratio sits around 1.19, but just the idea that a major long-term holder might be willing to sell if conditions change was enough to rattle some investors.

Jefferies strategist Mohit Kumar said this and other crypto-negative factors heading into the weekend helped put extra pressure on bitcoin on Monday.

3. China’s Central Bank Sounds Off (Again)

In Asia, the People’s Bank of China issued a statement over the weekend warning about illegal activity involving digital currencies, including stablecoins. That hit Hong Kong-listed crypto-related stocks and added to the sense that regulators are once again sharpening their focus on the sector.

Another warning sign: US-listed spot bitcoin ETFs just had their worst month on record for outflows.

• About $3.43 billion flowed out of spot bitcoin ETFs in November, according to LSEG data.
• Even after that, they still show a net $21 billion of inflows for the year — but the momentum has clearly cooled.

Jefferies’ Kumar and others say those ETF outflows are a big part of why bitcoin feels heavy right now. Not only are new buyers more cautious, but the funds that helped drive bitcoin to all-time highs earlier this year are now, at least temporarily, on the sell side.

Sean McNulty, APAC derivatives trading lead at FalconX, summed it up:

“It’s a risk-off start to December. The biggest concern is the meagre inflows into bitcoin ETFs and absence of dip buyers. We’re watching $80,000 as the next key support level.”

Looking at bitcoin’s short history, December has often been a decent month:

• Average +9.7% return in December since 2012;
• Only October tends to be stronger, with an average +16.6%;
• September is usually the worst month, averaging -3.5%.

But seasonality only goes so far, and this time traders are watching:

• Bitcoin’s tight correlation with risk assets;
• Regulatory noise from China and global watchdogs;
• The stability of Tether and other key market plumbing;
• ETF flows — whether they stabilize or more money heads for the exits.

Since the overall crypto market has already shed more than $1 trillion in value from its recent peak, nerves are clearly frayed.

For now, bitcoin is still well above last month’s low, but the tone has shifted. Instead of buying every dip with confidence, traders are asking a more cautious question:

Is this just another pullback in a long bull run — or the start of something bigger on the downside?