With only a few days left until the end of 2025, Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, continues to remain below $90,000.
With bullish expectations generally pushed back to 2026, Bitcoin (BTC) and the cryptocurrency market are preparing for the most critical days of the year.
Because there will be significant events this Friday and next Friday that could affect prices.
The first of these will be the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) interest rate decision, to be announced on Friday, December 19th. Secondly, trillions of dollars worth of stock option contracts will also expire on the same day as the BOJ decision.
While Friday is being dubbed “Triple Witch Day” in the stock market, increased volatility is also expected in the cryptocurrency market today.
It is predicted that the events, dubbed the “triple witches’ day,” could alter risk appetite in the stock market, indirectly affecting cryptocurrencies and leading to a shift towards high-beta assets like Bitcoin.
Speaking to Decrypt about the matter, Hashkey’s chief research officer, Tim Sun, said that global markets will indeed face multiple overlapping events this Friday.
“The Bank of Japan will announce its interest rate decision on Friday.”
Beyond that, the most significant event will be the triple witch day, which includes the simultaneous expiration of stock index futures, stock index options, stock options, and single stock futures.
The volume of expiring contracts can increase market volatility. While this indirectly affects Bitcoin, it could also lead to more sharp movements in financial markets.
Derek Lim, head of cryptocurrency-focused Caladan, noted that witch hunt events have historically shown mixed trends: “A ‘witch hunt’ in March caused a sharp drop in cryptocurrencies after expiration, while a June event led to a drop of about 2% in Bitcoin and Ethereum, followed by a month-long consolidation. At the same time, the impact of a September event was more limited.”
Lim concluded by stating that the bigger event is the more than $13.3 billion worth of Bitcoin options that expire on December 26th.
“I think the bigger event to watch is the December 26 Deribit expiry, not the December 19 witch hunt. On December 26, over $13.3 billion worth of Bitcoin options expire, and the maximum pain price is between $100,000 and $102,000, a price level where most options will expire worthless.”
*This is not investment advice.