Bitcoin continued its slide early on Friday, moving toward the mid-$80,000 range.
Selling from long-dormant wallets, shifting rate expectations, and bearish derivatives combined to drive the downturn.
Bitcoin Old Wallets Trigger Selling
According to CoinDesk data, BTC fell below $85,500 in Hong Kong, marking a 7% 24-hour drop.
Consequently, the cryptocurrency is now over 20% lower compared with last month.
Market makers pointed to old coins hitting centralised exchanges as the main factor.
FlowDesk reported that tens of thousands of BTC moved after years of inactivity.
As a result, this sudden activity weakened confidence, overwhelmed bids, and thinned liquidity at key support levels.
Spot And Derivatives Pressure
Meanwhile, spot markets faced persistent selling pressure.
Managers focused on defending gains rather than adding exposure, which reduced demand and weakened support.
Derivatives strengthened the bearish tone.
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Traders actively rolled put positions further down the curve to maintain protection.
Moreover, Deribit data showed the $85,000 put overtaking the $140,000 call as the dominant open-interest strike.
Consequently, volatility curves now lean heavily toward downside.
Macro And Market Focus
Macro headwinds added further pressure. QCP Capital highlighted fewer expected US rate cuts in 2026.
While equities held relatively well due to strong corporate earnings, particularly from Nvidia, crypto lacked similar resilience.
Ethereum dropped roughly 7.4% to $2,800, while major Layer-1, DeFi, and Layer-2 tokens suffered double-digit losses.
VanEck analysts explained that medium-term Bitcoin holders actively selling drove much of the decline, but long-term wallets stayed stable, indicating a cyclical correction.
Finally, attention shifted to MicroStrategy, whose BTC break-even stands at $74,430.
A possible MSCI index removal could trigger outflows, intensifying pressure on the fragile market.
Brief gains in GameFi and NFTs faded, leaving traders braced for further volatility as year-end approaches.
