Bitcoin Steadies Near $90,000 as Liquidity Thins and BOJ Rate Call Nears

Overview

• Bitcoin traded around $89k–$90k on Sunday into early Monday after brief dips toward $88.5k, with consolidation persisting inside a roughly $84k–$94k range.
• Traders are watching the $90,400 CME futures gap as a near‑term pivot; acceptance above it could open $92k–$94k, while rejection keeps $88k–$85k risks in play.
• Macro focus intensifies ahead of the Bank of Japan’s Dec. 18–19 meeting, where a hike to about 0.75% is widely expected, following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 25 bp cut last week.
• Risk appetite has deteriorated, with the Fear & Greed Index near extreme fear and roughly $270–$295 million in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, as analysts flag $86k as key support and warn a break could target $80k or the $74k–$80k on‑chain ‘distribution gap.’
• Flow dynamics show rotation into ether, including a whale swap of 1,969 BTC for 58,149 ETH, while Ethereum spot ETFs logged about $209 million in net inflows during Dec. 8–12 and ETH outperformed BTC over the week.