Bitcoin (BTC) Price: Traders Brace for Potential Christmas Week Rally

Bitcoin traders are positioning for a potential year-end surge as the holiday week kicks off.

The Seasonal Catalyst

Historical patterns and current market sentiment are converging, suggesting the final trading days of the year could deliver fireworks. While traditional markets often see a 'Santa Rally,' crypto markets have their own volatile traditions—sometimes delivering gifts, other times coal.

Market Mechanics at Play

Thinning liquidity and reduced trading volumes typically amplify price movements. This environment creates a powder keg where even modest buying pressure can trigger significant moves. It's the financial equivalent of trying to park a semi-truck in a compact spot—precision is optional, and the outcome is rarely subtle.

The Trader's Dilemma

The setup presents a classic high-risk, high-reward scenario. The potential for a sharp rally is balanced against the risk of a liquidity-driven flash crash. After all, in crypto, 'festive spirit' often just means the algorithms are feeling particularly generous—or vengeful.

Whether this Christmas week delivers a rally or a reckoning remains to be seen. One thing's certain: in this market, traders aren't hanging stockings by the fireplace—they're watching order books, ready to pounce on any sign of momentum.

TLDR

• Bitcoin perpetual open interest climbed from 304,000 to 310,000 BTC as the price briefly hit $90,000 on Monday
• Funding rates doubled from 0.04% to 0.09%, indicating traders are taking leveraged long positions expecting a year-end move
• Over $23 billion in Bitcoin options contracts expire on December 26 in one of the largest expiry events ever
• Bitcoin options traders show bullish sentiment with call contracts concentrated at $94,000 and $100,000 strike prices for Christmas week
• Bitcoin price currently sits around $88,200-$89,750, struggling to maintain levels above $90,000 since early December

Bitcoin price touched $90,000 briefly on Monday before pulling back to around $88,200. The recent price action comes as derivatives markets show increased activity heading into the final week of 2025.

Perpetual open interest has climbed from 304,000 to 310,000 BTC according to data from Glassnode. These perpetual contracts are futures that never expire and track Bitcoin’s spot price through a funding rate mechanism.

The funding rate has doubled from 0.04% to 0.09% over recent days. This rate represents periodic payments between traders holding long and short positions.

When funding rates increase, it typically means more traders are bullish. They are willing to pay premiums to maintain long positions.

The current combination of rising open interest and funding rates suggests traders are positioning for a potential move before year-end. Bitcoin perpetuals don’t have expiration dates and can be held indefinitely.

Options Market Shows Christmas Optimism

The bitcoin options market reveals concentrated bullish bets for this week. Data from exchange Deribit shows calls clustered at the $94,000 strike price expiring Thursday.

Massive BTC Option expiry on Friday.

$24bn expiring with Calls outweighing Puts by 2.6x.

Keep an eye on "Max Pain" price at $96k. Theory goes dealers attempt to pin spot at this price to inflict losses on buyers.

Either way, could get volatile in low liquidity Xmas hours. pic.twitter.com/t1ZCEfGcGK

— Nic (@nicrypto) December 22, 2025

This $94,000 level represents the most popular strike price by open interest for Thursday’s expiry. Overall, there are more call contracts than put contracts in the Deribit options market.

Beyond the Christmas week expiry, a massive options event looms on Friday, December 26. More than $23 billion in notional value Bitcoin options contracts will expire that day.

This December 26 expiry represents one of the largest options expiry events of all time. End-of-quarter and end-of-year expiries are typically much larger than regular weekly or monthly events.

Strike Prices and Market Positioning

For the December 26 expiry, call contracts are concentrated around the $100,000 and $120,000 strike prices. Put contracts are clustered around $85,000 according to Deribit data.

The put/call ratio currently sits at 0.37. This means there are far more long contracts expiring than short contracts.

Max pain, the strike price where most losses occur, is currently at $96,000 according to Coinglass. Bitcoin WOULD need to climb about $7,500 from current levels to reach that point.

$BTC 3D bullish divergence is now confirmed.

When this happened the last 2 times, Bitcoin formed a bottom. pic.twitter.com/z5X2HW0B2k

— Ted (@TedPillows) December 22, 2025

Technical analysis from Investtech shows Bitcoin has support at $86,000 and resistance at $93,400. The platform assesses Bitcoin as technically slightly negative for the short term.

Other Cryptocurrencies Show Gains

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, gained 1.5% to trade above $3,000. XRP edged up 0.6% over the past 24 hours.

Smaller tokens showed mixed performance. Solana and Dogecoin each gained less than 1%.

Bitcoin has struggled to consistently hold above $90,000 since early December. The price currently trades between $88,200 and $89,750 depending on the exchange and timing.