The last few pages of the 2025 calendar have quickly passed, but the crypto market trend this year has surprised many — the festive atmosphere of previous years seems to have failed to arrive as expected. The anticipated Christmas rally this year was replaced by a complete overhaul of funds. In this major shift, some quietly exit the scene, while others are quietly laying out plans in the shadows. The overall player landscape of the market is undergoing subtle changes.

The "Santa Claus" who promised to bring gifts to the crypto market seems to have lost its way. The usual pattern was clear — from late December to early January, due to the holiday shopping season and changes in trading liquidity, the crypto market would typically see a significant rally. But this year, the script was completely reversed.

Looking at the data makes it clear. This winter is indeed very cold. In the last quarter of 2025, the cryptocurrency sector collectively declined, with hardly any decent positive returns. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the flagship assets of the market, both saw quarterly declines of over 22%, making the performance quite poor. If Bitcoin continues this downward speed until the end of December, it will be the worst monthly performance since December 2018 — a gap of seven years. Not only are prices falling, but some healthy on-chain indicators are also declining simultaneously: total transaction fees, active addresses, and other metrics that reflect the market’s true vitality are shrinking. This indicates that the market is not only digesting the previous gains but also making more cautious predictions for next year’s trend.

Why is this happening? The underlying reason is actually liquidity drying up, and investors’ risk appetite is shrinking. The movement of funds doesn’t seem to be aiming to trigger a new upward wave; instead, it looks more like a rush to reduce positions and lower risks. Industry insiders analyze that the hot AI tech stocks that attracted massive funds earlier this year, combined with the large-scale margin liquidations experienced by the crypto market itself, have together cooled down the enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies.