As the year comes to an end, Bitcoin's performance appears somewhat "weak"—on Wednesday during US trading hours, the price hovered around $88,445, struggling to break through the $90,000 mark. This recent trend has indeed held back the market; it's worth noting that stock markets have already hit record highs during the same period, yet the crypto market hasn't kept pace.

There was a bit of a surprise yesterday, as Bitcoin saw a slight rebound during US trading hours, climbing from the previous day's low of $87,000 back up to $89,000, now staying above $88,000. This looks promising, but a closer look at the data reveals some interesting points—Bitcoin's rise during US market hours has been almost opposite to the past month. Data shows that over the last 30 days, Bitcoin has declined by approximately 20% after US stock market opens, making this rebound a rare anomaly.

But is this rebound truly a bottom reversal? Not necessarily. Looking at the open interest, BTC-denominated positions decreased from 514,000 to 511,000, meaning the price went up, but the open contracts actually decreased. What does this usually indicate? That shorts are closing their positions and taking profits, rather than new long positions entering in large numbers. In other words, this seems more like a forced technical rebound rather than a sign of renewed market confidence.

Crypto-related stocks also showed little movement; Coinbase, Robinhood, and Circle basically remained flat, and the broader indices like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were also uneventful. It appears the market is still waiting for a signal that can truly break the deadlock. As year-end approaches, risk-off sentiment and ETF fund flows fluctuate, and with limited liquidity during the holidays, the future trend remains to be seen.