December 22 After Work Podcast - Bitcoin $89,000 Sideways... Leverage liquidation continues to rise

On December 22, 2025, the cryptocurrency market continued to maintain an upward momentum after Bitcoin rose to the range of $88,000. Ether also rose simultaneously, while mainstream altcoins showed a mixed performance of rises and falls. On the other hand, the volume and liquidation dynamics suggest that there may be a short-term overheating risk in the market.

Bitcoin is priced at $88,887, up 0.93% from the previous day; Ethereum's trading price is $3,024, up 1.65%. Solana (0.45%), Dogecoin (0.23%), BNB (1.10%), and Tron (1.57%) all saw an increase, while Ripple (-0.10%) and Cardano (-0.51%) experienced slight declines. The total market capitalization is $3.06 trillion, with Bitcoin and Ethereum's market shares rising to 59.03% and 12.14%, respectively.

The total trading volume in the last 24 hours is $81.7 billion. The DeFi trading volume increased by 18.86%, reaching $12 billion; meanwhile, the stablecoin trading volume fell by 49.5% compared to the previous day, only amounting to $787 billion. The derivatives sector saw a surge in trading, recording $89.3 billion, an increase of 83.74% from the previous day.

During the same period, approximately $117.88 million in leveraged positions were liquidated, with short positions accounting for 61.93%. In particular, Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced liquidations of $49.14 million and $47.23 million respectively, resulting in greater losses for short investors. Among alts, LIGHT ($16.31 million), UNI, AVAX, and NEAR stood out with significant liquidation scales.

In terms of policy, the Korea Financial Intelligence Analysis Institute has initiated anti-money laundering sanctions against the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbit; Hong Kong has announced a legislative proposal, the core content of which is to allow insurance funds to invest in Crypto Assets. Additionally, it has been reported that the German information technology company Northern Data has sold its Peak Mining business unit for $200 million to a company operated by the management of Tether.

On the technical level, some major capital flows are worth noting, including an Ethereum OG address staking $10.8 million worth of ETH, the Uniswap community approving a governance proposal to burn 100 million UNI, and a large deposit into the LIGHT whale wallet. Additionally, the token buyback proposal of UXLINK and the strategic partnership between Certik and Nexus may also become variables affecting future market trends.