I'll be honest: this morning, when I opened the charts with my first coffee of the day, I let out a sigh. Not of panic, but of fatigue. Watching Bitcoin slide below $86,000 wasn't exactly how I planned to start my Monday.
If you've been around long enough, you know that a -3% move is, literally, "just another Tuesday" in crypto. But today's context, December 15, 2025, makes this drop feel different. The market is hypersensitive, and losing this technical support has unleashed the doomsayers.
The Picture of the Crime
To put it bluntly: BTC is currently trading around $85,990. We've broken through the $86k level, which had acted like a concrete wall for the past few weeks.
What bothers me isn't the drop itself, but the ease with which the bears took control in the last four hours.
Why is this happening? (My take)
I don't think it's external FUD or terrible macroeconomic news. To me, this smells like a textbook leverage flush. Too many people were going long with borrowed money, expecting $90k to be imminent before Christmas.
The market, as always, has a habit of punishing the majority. And the majority was too comfortable.
However, something doesn't add up with the bearish narrative:
MicroStrategy is still buying. (Yes, Saylor bought more today.)
The actual selling volume (spot) isn't massive. It's mostly derivatives liquidation.
When I see "weak hands" selling and institutions buying, my instinct tells me this isn't the start of a bear market, but a bear trap. They want your bitcoins cheap before the year-end.
What to expect now?
Keep in mind that being optimistic in the long term doesn't mean we can't bleed more in the short term. If we don't recover to $86,500 in the next 24 hours, I see a quick drop to the $82,000-$83,000 zone as very likely.
That's my "panic buying zone." If we get there, I'll personally be looking for entry points, not exit points.