The crypto market’s price correction continued until the end of 2025, but as we’ve seen time and again, the future is bright for crypto investors. The market cap is holding around 3t USD, but it has suffered a sharp downturn over the past couple of months due to thin trading volumes. The Fear/Greed Index is around 23 (up slightly from last week), continuing to signal to traders that volatility and momentum are serious concerns moving into 2026.
As prices continue the usual market-correction trend while preparing for a breakout, the current price action is a reaction to macroeconomic/geopolitical narratives, and liquidity appears to have rotated into the traditional trading exchanges, specifically gold and silver. When this happens, prices typically consolidate while we cautiously await higher volumes and a return to positive market sentiment. Analysts believe that until institutional inflows and liquidity are pumped back into the crypto market, there won’t be a clear directional move.
Other big players in the crypto space have stated that the crypto winter is not a possibility as 2025 brought crypto from a gray market to being a legitimate, tradable asset in all aspects of finance. They stipulated that the market is in a 4-year bear cycle and will emerge from this slump stronger than ever in 2026.
Bitcoin to Hit Higher Highs in 2026
Bitcoin had a turbulent week, fluctuating between 86k USD and 90k USD, and is currently trading at 87.8k USD, with strong support at 86k USD.
The year-end is traditionally quiet, and this year is no exception, with thin trading volumes, transactions dwindling, and on-chain activity cooling… reflecting the holiday trend. While most of the market is pessimistic, some analysts believe that BTC could hit 150k USD by the end of 2026. A major factor in this bold prediction is that the U.S. Strategic Reserve has adopted BTC and may begin stockpiling it. If this happens, it could trigger a frenzy among other countries to create their own strategic reserves.
Huge state purchases of BTC would inflate the price beyond what corporate treasury companies have been doing in 2025. Bitcoin will need to overcome a few obstacles, such as the Reserve gaining traction in the market (as the ETF market did) and stabilizing its price. Bitcoin is down over 6% for the year, but demand for the coin could push the price up as the limited supply could trigger a bull run. BTC is currently trading at 85.8k USD with strong support at 86k USD.
Ethereum Keeps Innovating/Upgrading
Ethereum was flat this past week as other major cryptocurrencies suffered losses of up to 4%. ETH showed strength and was over 3k USD on December 29th, but has since pulled back and is now trading around 2.9k USD. Several factors could have contributed to ETH’s stable price. Ethereum will have another major upgrade at the end of 2026, the Hegota upgrade, followed by another upgrade in Q2 of 2026, Glamsterdam.
These constant upgrades have kept ETH stable and relevant, and programmers are flocking to develop and launch their products on ETH. Hegota will be a precursor to Glamsterdam; it will launch with basic improvements that Hegota will finalize, including increased scalability, efficiency, and node performance. These improvements will boost confidence in ETH and promote long-term adoption, resulting in higher ETH prices.
Fermi Hard Fork to Increase Efficiency
BNB has grown in the past year, with one of the busiest crypto settlement layers. The company boasts over 2 million active addresses a day, and on-chain transactions were up 600% over last year. The company has opened up the derivatives market, and traders have flocked to leverage their bets. After the ‘flash crash’ in October, BNB fell 10% but recovered quickly and then hit an all-time high of 1.3k USD.
The company continues to innovate and expand its product offerings, and BNB will activate the Fermi hard fork on January 14th, which will increase network efficiency. The main change is that block time will be reduced from 750 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds, which will benefit users in the Defi sector that rely on fast transactions, such as trading companies and liquidation processes. Indexing is another prominent feature of the hard fork. The new indexing process can access specific data without having to confirm its entire history, thereby reducing computational power and storage requirements.
BNB price in the past week has been in a tight range, between 825 USD and 865 USD, currently trading at 854 USD. If BNB continues its path to innovate its ecosystem, it will maintain its top position in the market.
BCH – Solid Supply Structure
Bitcoin Cash outperformed all the other L1s in this sector. The altcoin is up over 33% for the year despite the Fear/Greed index hovering around 23 or lower for the past 2 months. Some of its peers are down by more than 50%, and analysts attribute BCH’s success to its supply structure. The company has no vesting schedule (token unlocks), no digital treasury, no venture capital companies dumping their profits and all their coins are in circulation.
BCH has also partnered with NEAR Protocol to integrate cross-chain swaps into 25 blockchains with over 120 different digital assets. This means no bridges and fast multi-chain transactions. BCH was up 4% this week and is currently trading at 601 USD with strong support at 593 USD.
It has been a tumultuous week (year) in the crypto market, and it is ending with a less-than-favorable Fear/Greed Index of 23. Still, the industry has grown through structural progress and institutional resilience. Bold traders have stayed the course, and it is evident that they are all in for 2026, which, in the end, will reward the true believers.
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