Ethereum is trading just under the $3,000 technical pivot, a level that has historically separated expansion from consolidation. XRP is now sitting on a long-term weekly support slightly below $2, while Solana has pulled back to the $120 zone that has often acted as a launch area. Market behavior suggests controlled declines and weakening sell pressure, leaving room for potential reversals if these supports hold.

Analytics firm Santiment reports that social media sentiment around Bitcoin has shifted back toward optimism, with bullish mentions now outnumbering bearish ones. Historical patterns suggest that such waves of greed have often aligned with local tops, even as Bitcoin currently consolidates around $88,000. Session-based return data shared by CryptoQuant analyst Maartunn indicates flat performance across US, European, and Asia-Pacific trading hours.

After the October 10 flash crash knocked crypto below the $3 trillion mark, Gemini AI mapped early‑2026 scenarios for XRP, Ethereum and BNB. It highlights support near $1.75 and resistance at $2.36 for XRP, $2,800 support and $3,370 resistance for ETH, and $800 support with a $1,000 hurdle for BNB. The model frames the first quarter of 2026 as a key decision period for whether the market breaks out of its current range.

Cypherpunk Technologies has acquired an additional 56,418.09 ZEC for about $29 million at an average price of $514.02, lifting its Zcash treasury to 290,062.67 coins or roughly 1.76% of circulating supply. The firm, which rebranded from Leap Therapeutics in November, is aiming to control 5% of the Zcash network while its stock price has climbed nearly 170% alongside an over 800% ZEC rally in the past 12 months.

On 26 December, total crypto market capitalization hovered near $2.96 trillion with roughly $102.94 billion in daily volume, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin traded between $86,000 and $90,000 while the Fear and Greed Index read 30; since 18 December, market cap rose from $2.85 trillion to $2.96 trillion, an increase of about $110 billion, as Santiment noted social spikes on price dips.

According to Steph is Crypto, XRP's 3‑week Stochastic RSI has reset to 0.00, a rare reading last seen at the 2022 bear‑market low, hinting at exhaustion of selling momentum. Altcoin Pioneers also notes a repeating ABC fractal from the 2016–2017 cycle, with the ongoing correction aligning toward the $1.87 region, fueling debate about a potential base before any sustained upside.

In a sponsored overview of 2026-focused presales, Bitcoin Hyper, PEPENODE and Maxi Doge report $29.9M, $2.4M and $4.3M raised. Bitcoin Hyper targets a Bitcoin Layer 2 using the Solana Virtual Machine's 65,000 TPS versus Bitcoin's 7; PEPENODE's presale price is $0.0012161 with 541% APY, and Maxi Doge's presale is $0.0002755 with up to 71% APY.

On Tuesday, Bitcoin traded around $88,224, up 1.12%, while Ethereum hovered near $2,967 as major altcoin volumes slid to their lowest levels of 2025. Over the weekend, BitMine Immersion Technologies staked 342,560 ETH, worth about $1 billion, tightening Ethereum's validator entry queue. At the same time, a proposed 5% annual tax on net wealth above $1 billion in California, including unrealized crypto gains, has raised concerns about capital outflows from the state's digital asset sector.