If youāve been glued to your screen the past week, you know the vibe: Bitcoin was charging toward $100k like a freight train, Ethereum was flexing above $3,200, and every memecoin shiller on X was calling for āup only.ā
Well⦠the train just hit a speed bump.
As of December 5, 2025, the entire crypto market is down a modest but noticeable ~1ā2% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin is sitting at $92,390 (-0.7%), Ethereum at $3,177 (-0.4%), and the total market cap has dipped to $3.33 trillion. Nothing catastrophic, but enough to make leveraged degens sweat.
This feels less like a crash and more like the market catching its breath after an absurdly strong rally. The real question everyoneās asking: is this just profit-taking, or are we about to get rugged by macro uncertainty again?
Why the Sudden Chill? Thank the Fed (Again)
Traders are staring at the same calendar we all are: the next FOMC meeting is right around the corner, and nobody knows if Powell is going to play Santa Claus with another rate cut or turn into the Grinch.
Rate-cut hopes have been the rocket fuel for this entire 2024ā2025 bull run. Every time the market sniffs even a 25 bps cut, risk assets (especially crypto) moon. Right now, the odds of a December cut have slipped below 60%, and thatās spooking people.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index confirms the mood swing itās plunged to 28, deep into āFearā territory. For context, we were above 80 (āExtreme Greedā) just ten days ago.
Big Caps Bleeding, Small Caps Still Pumping
While blue-chip crypto takes a nap, some altcoins are getting absolutely wrecked:
Telcoin ($TEL) ā6% Morpho ($MORPHO) ā5.5% Strike ($STRK) ā5.2% Pump.fun token ($PUMP) and Bittensor ($TAO) both ā4%
But flip to the small-cap leaderboard and itās a completely different story. Speculative money is still hunting 10x moonshots even in a red market:
XNY +76% (yes, really) Prime ($PRIME) +48% Omni ($OMNI) +38% Umbra ($UMBRA) +38% Shadow ($SHDW) +33%
This is classic late-bull rotation behavior: when BTC and ETH stall, degenerate liquidity flows downstream into micro-cap gambles. Some of these will 100x, most will go to zero, but thatās crypto in 2025.
Liquidations Tell the Story
Over $262 million in positions got rekt in the last 24 hours, mostly long liquidations. Someone was apparently leveraged to the tits expecting $95k Bitcoin by breakfast. Oops.
So⦠Are We Doomed?
Nah. This looks painfully healthy so far.
A 5ā10% pullback after a 50%+ rally in two months is textbook. Bitcoinās still up ~120% YTD, Ethereum ~80%. The macro trend is still unmistakably up as long as we hold the $85kā$88k zone on BTC.
If the Fed surprises with a cut (or even a strong dovish hint), weāll probably blast straight through $100k before New Yearās Eve parties start. If they disappoint, we could chop sideways or even retest $80kā$85k.
Either way, small-cap season is clearly not over. The animal spirits are still alive they just moved from Solana memecoins to whatever XNY and Umbra are.
Buckle up. December is rarely boring in crypto.
1. Bitcoin 4H chart showing the sharp rally and current pullback to the 0.618 Fib
2. Fear & Greed Index plunging from 82 ā 28 in two weeks
3. Small-cap gainers leaderboard with XNY at +76% looking absurd
4. Classic meme of a leveraged trader getting liquidated with āwen lamboā caption
Stay safe out there, keep your leverage low, and maybe throw $50 at the weirdest small cap you can find. Worst case, you lose $50. Best case, youāre retiring in 2026.
Not financial advice, obviously.
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