Bitcoin reclaimed $90,000 by monday afternoon after trading near $88,000 during Asian hours, but the rally faces a critical test as U.S. markets open. Bitcoin reclaims $90,000 captures the immediate price move and the unresolved intraday risk that has driven large swings in recent weeks.
The recovery seen in Asian and European sessions has often been followed by profit-taking and hedging when U.S. trading begins, a pattern that amplifies volatility during U.S. hours. Market moves have been extreme: there have been episodes where value moved by more than $130 billion within a single hour, and in November 2025 roughly 30% of a multi-week decline occurred specifically during U.S. market hours. Rising correlation with U.S. technology stocks — both treated as risk assets sensitive to Federal Reserve policy and retail flows — has increased the impact of macro updates on Bitcoin prices.
Leverage in derivatives is a key amplifier. Open interest in Bitcoin futures approached $60 billion across major exchanges on Dec. 22, 2025. Open interest is the total value of outstanding futures contracts and serves as a gauge of leveraged positioning and potential forced liquidations. Large options expiries are an additional stressor, with about $23 billion in contracts scheduled to expire in late 2025, a timetable that historically magnifies intraday moves.
Institutional positioning after Bitcoin reclaims $90,000
Institutional participants have adapted with strategies intended to blunt intraday shocks: delta‑neutral trading, AI-driven hedging, diversification into tokenized real‑world assets, and ETF structures designed to reduce exposure to intraday swings. Delta‑neutral trading is a hedging approach that aims to eliminate directional exposure by balancing options and underlying positions. These techniques reflect an effort to manage concentrated risk from leverage and crowded positions.
For product managers and compliance teams the takeaways are operational and regulatory. Crowded derivatives books raise counterparty and liquidity risk during sharp reversals; funds and custodians should ensure hedging models account for sudden liquidity stress during U.S. hours. Macro sensitivity to Fed decisions and inflation prints increases the need for scenario testing tied to scheduled U.S. announcements.
From a market-structure perspective, a sustained price above $90,000 during U.S. hours would break the recent “sell-the-open” dynamic; failure to hold that level would likely reinforce a pattern of lower highs and rapid pullbacks.
The immediate test for the rally is U.S. trading hours on Dec. 22, 2025, against a backdrop of elevated futures open interest and a sizable options expiry window in late 2025. s whether the market can sustain levels above $90,000.
