In what became an all-too-familiar move at the beginning of the US trading day, the crypto sector quickly gave up on even the slightest sign of an overnight rally.
Bitcoin briefly rose above $89,000 as the US slept on Friday U.S. stocks opened after the Christmas holidays and quickly fell below $87,000.
Also familiar to crypto bulls, the poor price performance comes as metals continue to soar, with gold, silver, copper, and platinum all hitting record highs on Friday.
Already attracting funds that could go to Bitcoin as part of a global groundbreaking deal, the metal today could also be benefiting from heightened geopolitical tensions after the US increased pressure on Venezuela by attacking Islamic State targets in Nigeria and interdicting a sanctioned oil tanker on Christmas Day.
The metals’ rally was led by palladium and platinum, both up more than 10%, while silver and copper rose 5%. Gold led by 1.5% at $4,573 an ounce.
The NASDAQ, S&P 500, and DJIA were almost flat in morning trading.
Bitcoin has fallen 1.6% in the past 24 hours. ether was falling as well. fell more than 4%, It fell 3%, leading the rest of the sectors in losses.
Cryptocurrency stocks were also in the red, with Coinbase (COIN), named one of the three most promising fintech ideas for 2026 by ClearStreet’s Owen Lau, outperforming with a decline of just 2%. Gemini (GEMI) fell 6%, Bullish (BLSH) fell 3.8% and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) fell 3.5%.
Bitcoin miners were particularly hard hit in the early post-Christmas trading sessions, even those who pivoted their business models from mining BTC to AI infrastructure. Stocks that fell more than 5% included IREN (IREN), Cipher Mining (CIFR), Terrawolf (WULF), and Marathon Digital (MARA). Hut 8 (HUT), a standout performer for its AI plans over the past week, topped the list of losses on Friday, down 7.5%.
