At this time of year, the performance of mainstream cryptocurrencies is quite interesting. Bitcoin has been oscillating between $85,000 and $90,000, mostly hovering around $87,000, with volatility clearly decreasing and sideways trading characteristics becoming very apparent. Ethereum's situation is slightly better, with the price stable around $2,940, and its volatility is more tightly controlled than Bitcoin's.

Why is this happening? There are a few key reasons. First is the holiday effect—both institutional investors and retail traders are fewer, and trading volume on exchanges has significantly shrunk. This is evident from the open interest data of perpetual contracts, which has plummeted overnight, indicating that everyone is actively deleveraging and reducing risk, leading to a noticeable tightening of market liquidity.

Second, the expiration of options contracts at the end of December is a major event. Just for Bitcoin options, there are 300,000 contracts queued for expiration, with a total value of $23.7 billion. Historically, such concentrated expirations often trigger 5%-7% volatility during the Christmas week. The strike prices are mainly clustered around $100,000 and $85,000, with the maximum pain point near $95,000. These data points are right there, making it hard to say they won't influence the market.

Interestingly, while cryptocurrencies are taking a nap, gold is making history. On Christmas Day, gold prices surged past $4,500 per ounce, hitting a new all-time high. This reflects that capital is quietly flowing elsewhere, with some investors possibly shifting their high-risk assets into safe havens.

What about the overall market sentiment? It can be described as "neutral in a bull market," with some traders even leaning towards caution. Although many are betting on a Christmas rebound, the expectation of a significant rally is clearly limited. The overall atmosphere feels like waiting and watching.