A bullish December rally could still be in the books

Although bitcoin hitting $120k by year’s end is looking unlikely

article-image

Artwork by Crystal Le

share


This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


I am once again asking: Could we see a Santa Rally? 

Kaiko analysts reckon there’s a chance, though they don’t think it’s worth getting your hopes up for bitcoin at $120,000 by year-end (sad). 

The options data, as seen below, looks promising for a bullish December finale. There are far more calls than puts.

However, analysts think that any rally may be distributed across the ecosystem, with other coins getting a boost. 

“Any upcoming rallies will likely be much broader than last year. Since the election smaller layer-1 coins have been outperforming BTC and ETH as traders repricing risk amid regulatory shifts in the US,” the analysts wrote.

Oh, and any Santa Rally we see may not follow the traditional timeline of a rally (meaning that it occurs in the last five days of the year into the first two days of the new year). Let’s just hope Santa and his elves don’t have to work too much harder for everyone’s bags, I guess. 

This just underpins what we’ve been hearing from analysts and folks around crypto, which is that they expect crypto to come out looking strong in the beginning half of next year. In this week’s Empire pod, Daniel Matuszewski of CMS Holdings and Roshun Patel from Hack both carried a bullish tone. 

Patel, in particular, thinks that there could be big ETF inflows in January but expects seasonality to be a factor once we inch towards the summer. 

“I think as you go into March or May, you can maybe think a little bit more about portfolio rebalancing, but for now it’s like. It feels pretty healthy,” he told Jason Yanowitz. 

On the other hand, Matuszewski said that altcoins could have a similar market cycle to what we’ve seen in the past. However, he still expects “crazy swings” from the likes of memecoins and AI chatbot tokens. If I’m being honest, I’d be more afraid if both memecoins and AI chatbots weren’t volatile.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

recent research

Research

article-image

The XRP roundtrip has come to an end after seven years

article-image

Multicoin Capital proposal would likely drive down inflation but would also lower staking yields

article-image

Everything has been somewhat upside down in recent years, leaving many economists befuddled

article-image

Ripple’s CLO noted the SEC’s brief is nothing but “a rehash of already failed arguments”

article-image

“It’s time for Texas to lead the way in establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve,” Texas senator Charles Schwertner wrote

article-image

SolvBTC has been under scrutiny leading up to the launch of its token, highlighting the liquidity risks of BTC derivatives