U.S. CPI: +2.9% YEAR-OVER-YEAR (EST. +2.9%); U.S. CORE CPI: +3.2% YEAR-OVER-YEAR (EST. +3.3%)

On December 14, per LookOnChain monitoring, a savvy trader (address: pension-usdt.eth) has shifted from a long position to a short, opening a 3x leveraged short on 1,000 BTC valued at roughly $89.6 million. The trader has now notched 7 consecutive winning trades, with total profits topping $22 million.

On December 14, Cointelegraph reported that Markus Thielen, managing director at 10x Research, noted Bitcoin’s four-year cycle remains intact—but its primary drivers are no longer the halving, but instead political factors, the liquidity environment, and election cycles. Bitcoin hit all-time highs in 2013, 2017, and 2021. This year, despite the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cuts, Bitcoin has failed to mount a strong upward push. The reason? Institutional investors now dominate the crypto market but are far more cautious. With Fed policy signals still uncertain and overall liquidity tightening, capital inflows have slowed noticeably, weakening the momentum needed for price breakouts. Until liquidity improves significantly, Bitcoin is more likely to trade in a range than quickly enter a new parabolic uptrend.

December 14 — A Cointelegraph report notes several macro analysts believe Bitcoin could further correct to the $70,000 level if the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raises interest rates as expected on December 19. Analyst AndrewBTC pointed out that, per historical data, every BOJ rate hike since 2024 has coincided with a Bitcoin price drop of over 20%: roughly 23% in March 2024, around 26% in July 2024, and approximately 31% in January 2025. Should the BOJ hike rates next week, similar downside risks may resurface.

December 14th data from Coinglass indicates that if Bitcoin falls below $89,000, cumulative long liquidation intensity across major centralized exchanges (CEXs) will reach $508 million. Conversely, should Bitcoin climb above $91,000, cumulative short liquidation intensity on those mainstream platforms will hit $294 million. BlockBeats Note: Liquidation charts do not show the exact number of contracts up for liquidation or the precise value of liquidated contracts. Instead, the bars on these charts reflect how significant each liquidation cluster is relative to adjacent clusters—meaning its intensity. As such, the charts illustrate the extent to which the underlying asset’s price will be affected when it hits a specific level: a taller “liquidation bar” signals that the price reaching that threshold will spark a more intense reaction driven by a liquidity cascade.

December 14: Itaú Asset Management—the asset management arm of Brazil’s largest private bank—recommended in its year-end report that investors allocate 1% to 3% of their portfolios to Bitcoin. The firm’s Beta strategy, led by Responsible Investment Officer Renato Eid, noted that using cryptocurrency as a complementary asset helps mitigate the effects of currency depreciation and global market volatility.

December 14th: On-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa) reports that FOLKS’ 24-hour contract trading volume on Binance has surged to third place on the platform’s leaderboard, trailing only BTC and ETH, hitting $2.35 billion. Current Open Interest (OI) for FOLKS stands at $29.83 million. Binance smart money contract holdings breakdown: - Of 294 smart money traders, 65% (191 accounts) hold long positions, totaling $6.18 million with an average entry price of $21.88. - Conversely, 35% (103 accounts) hold short positions, totaling $2.57 million with an average entry price of $15.64—most likely holding positions opened at low levels.