13th December, Cryptocurrency Market Research Report

Crypto Market Weekly: Bitcoin Defends $90K, XRP ETF Debuts, and the DeFi Resurgence

Sentiment: Cautiously Bullish

The cryptocurrency market is currently navigating a pivotal consolidation phase. While Bitcoin (BTC) faces short-term sell pressure, trading just above the psychological $90,000 anchor, the broader ecosystem is exhibiting signs of capital rotation rather than a full-scale retreat. Institutional interest remains the primary driver, evidenced by the premiere of the fifth spot XRP ETF on Wall Street and sustained transaction volumes across major stablecoins. This divergence—where the market leader cools off while specific altcoin sectors heat up—is characteristic of a maturing bull market cycle where liquidity seeks higher beta opportunities in DeFi and legacy Layer 1s.

In the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, Total Value Locked (TVL) metrics are painting a picture of renewed yield-seeking behaviour. Despite a general pullback in token prices, protocols like Aave and Lido continue to command billions in secured capital, reinforcing their status as the “blue chips” of the on-chain economy. Meanwhile, volatility has returned with a vengeance in speculative corners of the market, with assets like Terra (LUNA) posting double-digit gains against a backdrop of broader market red. As we head into the mid-month close, traders are closely watching whether Bitcoin’s defense of the $90k support will serve as a springboard for a year-end rally or if a deeper correction is necessary to flush out over-leveraged positions.

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I. Market Overview & Performance

Bitcoin and Ethereum remain in a cooling period, with significant sell ratings across technical indicators. However, stablecoins (USDT, USDC) show neutral-to-positive flows, suggesting capital is sitting on the sidelines rather than exiting the ecosystem.

Rank	Symbol	Asset	Price ($)	Change (24h)	Market Cap ($)	Volume (24h)	Tech Rating	Performance (1W)	Performance (1M)
1	BTC	Bitcoin	90,321.50	-2.31%	1.8 T	82.78 B	Sell	+1.08%	-11.14%
2	ETH	Ethereum	3,086.90	-4.94%	372.57 B	21.97 B	Sell	+2.18%	-9.54%
3	USDT	Tether	1.0002	+0.01%	186.25 B	78.47 B	Buy	0.00%	+0.04%
4	BNB	BNB	885.71	-0.56%	121.99 B	1.7 B	Sell	+0.22%	-7.03%
5	XRP	XRP	2.0311	-0.15%	122.54 B	2.7 B	Sell	-0.24%	-14.96%
6	USDC	USDC	0.99996	+0.00%	78.45 B	9.78 B	Strong Buy	+0.02%	+0.01%
7	SOL	Solana	132.60	-4.17%	74.51 B	4.82 B	Sell	-0.51%	-13.52%
8	TRX	TRON	0.27402	-1.98%	25.94 B	509.38 M	Sell	-4.00%	-6.91%
9	DOGE	Dogecoin	0.13733	-2.47%	23.05 B	994.37 M	Sell	-1.70%	-19.35%
10	ADA	Cardano	0.41031	-3.03%	14.73 B	685.16 M	Sell	-1.35%	-24.81%
11	BCH	Bitcoin Cash	576.10	-0.66%	11.5 B	304.92 M	Buy	+2.94%	+13.60%
12	HYPE	Hyperliquid	28.107	-4.79%	9.46 B	303.3 M	Strong Sell	-9.35%	-26.78%
13	LINK	Chainlink	13.754	-2.32%	9.58 B	533.28 M	Sell	+1.36%	-9.04%
14	LEO	UNUS SED LEO	9.5090	-0.08%	8.77 B	789.44 K	Neutral	+0.39%	+4.15%
15	XLM	Stellar	0.23900	-2.04%	7.73 B	143.13 M	Sell	-0.38%	-13.91%
16	ZEC	Zcash	466.26	+2.60%	7.66 B	801.55 M	Buy	+29.55%	-7.62%
17	XMR	Monero	408.33	-2.12%	7.53 B	158.02 M	Buy	+2.34%	+5.28%
18	USDE	Ethena USDe	0.99951	+0.02%	6.53 B	126.98 M	Neutral	+0.00%	+0.06%

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II. Sector Spotlight: DeFi & TVL Leaders

Total Value Locked (TVL) remains robust despite price corrections. Aave continues to dominate lending, while yield-bearing assets like Ethena (ENA) and Pendle see high volume despite “Sell” ratings, indicating active yield farming strategies are still in play.

Symbol	Name	Price ($)	Change (24h)	TVL ($)	Market Cap / TVL	Category	Tech Rating
AAVE	Aave	195.10	-4.39%	56.98 B	0.0524	Lending/Borrowing	Neutral
LDO	Lido DAO	0.59365	-2.74%	28.54 B	0.0186	Derivatives/DeFi	Sell
ENA	Ethena	0.24921	-5.87%	7.4 B	0.2589	DeFi	Sell
BABY	Babylon	0.018504	-2.47%	5.16 B	0.0102	Interoperability	Sell
UNI	Uniswap	5.3912	-2.57%	4.32 B	0.7872	DEX	Strong Sell
JST	JUST	0.038086	-0.59%	4.05 B	0.0932	DeFi	Neutral
PENDLE	Pendle	2.1878	-4.17%	3.89 B	0.0923	Social Media/DeFi	Strong Sell
COMP	Compound	29.488	-1.39%	3.02 B	0.0972	Lending/Borrowing	Sell
CAKE	PancakeSwap	2.2116	-2.76%	2.72 B	0.2737	DEX	Strong Sell
CRV	Curve DAO	0.40182	-0.63%	2.59 B	0.2206	DEX	Sell
RPL	Rocket Pool	2.2142	-3.58%	1.96 B	0.0248	Derivatives	Sell
W	Wormhole	0.038421	-1.95%	1.77 B	0.1109	Interoperability	Sell
CVX	Convex Finance	1.8010	-2.38%	1.06 B	0.1672	DeFi	Sell
BERA	Berachain	0.72168	-0.30%	806.64 M	0.1224	Layer 1/DeFi	Sell
SUN	Sun (New)	0.020331	-2.16%	553.85 M	0.7043	Payments/DeFi	Sell

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III. Volatility Watch: Top Gainers & Losers

Market disparity is high. While major caps bleed, speculative capital is rushing into recovery plays like Terra (LUNA) and privacy coins like Zcash (ZEC). Conversely, recent high-flyers like Lombard and Core are seeing profit-taking.

Top Gainers (24h)	Price ($)	Change %	Top Losers (24h)	Price ($)	Change %
LUNA (Terra)	0.19675	+23.31%	BARD (Lombard)	0.80616	-9.74%
AB (AB)	0.00524	+12.07%	CORE (Core)	0.11990	-9.36%
MERL (Merlin Chain)	0.40863	+12.03%	XPL (Plasma)	0.14740	-8.38%
ZRO (LayerZero)	1.5311	+7.59%	MON (Monad)	0.023824	-8.22%
M (MemeCore)	1.6256	+5.17%	GRT (The Graph)	0.040973	-7.79%
AIOZ (AIOZ Network)	0.12094	+4.47%	SUPER (SuperVerse)	0.26544	-7.40%
PROM (Prom)	9.3454	+3.33%	ATH (Aethir)	0.011798	-6.94%
QTUM (Qtum)	1.5034	+3.22%	MORPHO (Morpho)	1.1462	-6.18%
AXL (Axelar)	0.13551	+2.93%	IP (Story)	1.8949	-6.10%
LUNC (Terra Classic)	0.000047	+2.76%	BRETT (Brett)	0.016555	-5.89%

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IV. On-Chain Pulse & Fundamental Drivers

Transaction Activity Leaders

TRON continues to lead the industry in raw transaction throughput, largely driven by USDT transfers, highlighting its utility as a settlement layer for stablecoins in emerging markets.

• TRON (TRX): 10.33 M Transactions (Rank #8 Market Cap)
• USDC: 9.38 M Transactions
• Tether (USDT): 3.79 M Transactions
• Stellar (XLM): 3.14 M Transactions
• XRP: 1.99 M Transactions

Key Market Headlines & Sentiment

• XRP ETF Premiere: The 5th Spot XRP ETF has officially launched on Wall Street (21Shares fund approved by Cboe), signalling deepening institutional acceptance despite XRP’s current price resistance.
• Bitcoin vs. Fed: “Bitcoin Weekly Forecast: Fed Delivers, Yet Fails to Impress BTC Traders.” The market has already priced in recent Fed policy, leading to a “sell the news” reaction.
• Whale Activity: “XRP Whale Activity Spikes At The Bottom,” historically a pre-rally signal, contrasting with “Ethereum Trades Near Whales’ Cost Basis,” suggesting ETH is at a critical decision point.
• Privacy Sector Surge: “Cypherpunk Boosts ZEC Holdings; Zcash Surges 10% in 24 Hours.” Privacy coins are decoupling from the broader market trend.

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V. Weekly Forecast: What to Expect

Looking ahead to the coming week, volatility is expected to remain elevated as the market digests the recent Federal Reserve policy signals. The technical ratings for most major assets (BTC, ETH, SOL) are currently flashing “Sell,” indicating that the path of least resistance remains downward or sideways in the immediate term. However, the strong “Buy” ratings for USDT and USDC confirm that liquidity is not leaving the crypto economy but rather moving into stablecoins, waiting for a re-entry entry.

Traders should monitor the $90,000 support level for Bitcoin. A sustained hold above this level could embolden bulls to rotate profits back into high-beta altcoins, particularly those with upcoming catalysts like the XRP ETF inflows and the Zcash privacy narrative. Conversely, a breakdown below $90k could trigger a cascading liquidation event, potentially dragging ETH toward the $2,800 region. The “Strong Buy” signal on Merlin Chain (MERL) and Zcash (ZEC) suggests that savvy capital is currently targeting specific idiosyncratic narratives (Scaling L2s and Privacy) rather than broad index plays.

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Takeaway & Conclusion

This week’s data underscores a market in transition. The euphoria of the initial bull run has cooled into a more discerning, utility-focused environment. While the sea of red in the top 10 assets may look discouraging at a glance, the underlying metrics—specifically the robust Transaction counts on TRON and the massive TVL locked in Aave—prove that the network fundamentals remain incredibly strong. We are seeing a classic “flight to quality” within the crypto ecosystem itself: investors are flocking to protocols that generate real yield (DeFi) or offer specific utility (Privacy/Stablecoins) while shedding speculative baggage.

For the investor, patience is the strategy of the week. The high “Sell” ratings across the board are a warning against blindly catching falling knives. Instead, focus on the pockets of strength identified in the data: Privacy coins showing decoupling price action, DeFi protocols with sticky TVL, and the developing ETF narrative for XRP. The market is not dead; it is merely taking a breath before its next decisive move. Watch the $90k Bitcoin level—it is the line in the sand that will define the rest of December.

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Based on the market data here is a summary of the expected announcements and key events to watch for the coming week (December 14–20, 2025).

1. XRP ETF: The First Full Week of Flow Data

• Context: Following the headline “Fifth Spot XRP ETF Premieres On Wall Street After Cboe Approves 21Shares’ Fund,” the market is shifting focus from approval to performance.
• Expected Announcement: By mid-week, analysts expect the release of the initial net inflow/outflow data for the new 21Shares XRP ETF. Institutional desk reports will likely confirm whether the launch was a “sell-the-news” event or the start of sustained accumulation.
• Impact: High inflows could invalidate the current “Sell” technical rating on XRP seen in the charts.

2. DeFi Integration: wXRP Launch Details

• Context: The headline “Hex Trust to Launch wXRP for DeFi” indicates an imminent bridge of XRP liquidity into the broader DeFi ecosystem.
• Expected Announcement: Look for an official “Go Live” announcement from Hex Trust, possibly specifying which DeFi protocols (likely on Ethereum or Solana) will be the first to support wXRP collateral.
• Impact: This aims to unlock the liquidity of XRP (currently facing price resistance) for yield farming, potentially boosting DeFi TVL.

3. Solana’s Institutional Bond Deal

• Context: News that “Solana Gains Institutional Momentum as New On-Chain Bond Deal… Build Hype” suggests a major Real World Asset (RWA) integration.
• Expected Announcement: Further details regarding the structuring and settlement date of this on-chain bond deal are expected. The market is looking for confirmation of which major financial institution is on the other side of the trade.
• Impact: Confirmation could help arrest the slide in Solana’s TVL (mentioned in headlines as “Solana TVL slides”).

4. Ethereum “Fusaka” Upgrade Stability Reports

• Context: The headline “Ethereum price drops… Fusaka upgrade boosts network” implies a major technical upgrade has just occurred amidst price volatility.
• Expected Announcement: Core developers are expected to release post-upgrade stability reports this week. These will confirm if the “Fusaka” upgrade successfully lowered gas fees or improved transaction finality as intended, countering the “whale cost basis” fear.

5. Post-Fed Policy Commentary

• Context: With the headline “Fed Delivers, Yet Fails to Impress BTC Traders,” the primary FOMC meeting has concluded.
• Expected Activity: The coming week typically features speeches from regional Federal Reserve Presidents clarifying the central bank’s forward guidance. Markets will parse these for hints on whether the “delivery” mentioned was the last policy move for the year.

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