Week of 8 December 2025: Bitcoin ends 2.46% lower while Ether finishes flat
When both assets peak midweek and then give it back, what does a flat Ether return alongside a lower Bitcoin close actually show about the week's direction?
BTC fell from 90,395.32 to 88,172.17 (-2.46%) while ETH rose from 3,059.86 to 3,063.50 (+0.12%). Both highs came midweek and both lows late Sunday 14 December, with closes in the lower third of the weekly range. Dollar volume ran at 0.61 times (BTC) and 0.69 times (ETH) the prior twelve-week average.
What the data shows. The week rose first and fell second. BTC's best day was Tuesday 9 December (+2.26%), reaching a weekly high of 94,588.99 at 17:00 UTC; ETH's best day was the same Tuesday (+6.21%), with its high of 3,447.44 following on Wednesday 10 December at 20:00 UTC. Both assets then gave back the gains. Friday 12 December was the worst day for each (BTC -2.43%, ETH -4.71%) and carried the largest hourly move in the same hour for both: -2.71% for BTC and -4.95% for ETH starting 15:00 UTC. Both lows arrived at 23:00 UTC on Sunday 14 December, and both closes sat in the lower third of the weekly range (BTC 8.5%, ETH 9.2%). The assets moved closely hour by hour (correlation 0.91) but finished apart: ETH outperformed by 2.58 percentage points and the ETH/BTC ratio rose 2.64%.
What it does not show. The candles cannot say why the midweek rally reversed or who traded it. A flat ETH return sits on a 13.99% range, so it reflects an up and a down leg rather than an absence of movement. Both lows came in the final hour of the week (23:00 UTC Sunday 14 December), so nothing here shows whether that level held afterwards.
What a careful desk would check. Volume was below normal on both sides (0.61x and 0.69x of the prior twelve-week average), so the reversal happened in a thinner market than the prior weeks. Realised volatility was 42.6% for BTC and 68.9% for ETH. A desk would ask whether its week was sized for a 13.99% ETH range and a -4.95% ETH hourly move, and for BTC's smaller but same-hour -2.71% move on Friday.
Funding. Funding was near flat: BTC averaged 0.0039% per eight hours (high 0.01%, low -0.0016%) and ETH 0.0041% (high 0.01%, low -0.0014%). Slightly positive funding means longs paid shorts, but at these levels the cost was marginal and the near-zero minimum shows the payment briefly reversed.
What would change this reading
- If BTC trades back above its weekly high of 94,588.99 in later weeks, the midweek reversal reads as a failed push rather than a top.
- If the Sunday 14 December low of 87,577.36 breaks, the week's close in the lower third was a continuation signal rather than a pause.
- If the ETH/BTC ratio keeps rising after a +2.64% week, the divergence from BTC is becoming a trend worth tracking separately.
- If volume returns towards its prior twelve-week average, this week's reversal in a thinner market carries less weight.
Terms
- realised volatility
- how much the price actually swung over a period, expressed as a yearly percentage
- close location
- where the closing price sat within the week's high-to-low range, as a percentage
- ETH/BTC ratio
- the price of one Ether expressed in Bitcoin, showing which asset outperformed