Bitcoin Retakes $90K Before Thanksgiving Rally

When Bitcoin retakes $90K just days before Thanksgiving, the move is more than a simple bounce. It is a signal that sentiment, liquidity, and macro forces have aligned in a way that defies what traders have come to expect from this part of the calendar.

In November 2025, BTC price clawed its way back above the $90,000 level after dipping as low as roughly $80,000 earlier in the month, rebounding about 12–13% in the run-up to the U.S. holiday. This jump came after a brutal correction from an all-time high near $126,000 reached in early October, which left Bitcoin down close to 30% from its peak.

What made this move truly notable was the timing. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving has historically been a weak session for Bitcoin, with the cryptocurrency declining in six of the past seven years and seeing especially sharp drops in 2020 and 2021.  Yet in 2025, Bitcoin staged a pre-Thanksgiving rally, breaking back above $90K instead of selling off, and holding near that level through the holiday itself.

In this article, we will break down how Bitcoin got here, why this holiday price action matters, what is driving the crypto market volatility, and what the $90K reclaim could mean for traders and long-term investors.

From $126K Peak To $80K Lows: The Road Back To $90K

To understand why Bitcoin retaking $90K grabbed so much attention, you first need to look at the context of the 2025 cycle.

In early October 2025, Bitcoin set a new all-time high above $126,000, driven by strong spot Bitcoin ETF inflows, institutional adoption, and renewed retail enthusiasm. As the rally matured, leverage built up across perpetual futures, options, and highly speculative altcoin trades, leaving the market vulnerable to even small negative catalysts.

By November, the tide turned. A combination of: macro jitters over global growth

concerns about stablecoin reserves outflows from spot BTC ETFs

pushed Bitcoin into its sharpest monthly decline since the 2021 crash, wiping more than $18,000 off the price and briefly sending it below $90,000, with intraday lows near $80,000.

From that base, however, BTC price began to grind higher. Short-term traders started to cover shorts, some whale wallets accumulated on dips, and risk appetite in global equity markets slowly returned. By the week of Thanksgiving, this steady bid turned into a sharp rebound, and Bitcoin reclaimed the $90K zone in a burst of holiday volatility.

This path from parabolic peak to deep correction and partial recovery is fairly typical of mid-cycle Bitcoin behavior. What is unusual is that the recovery surged exactly when many traders expected a fresh wave of selling.

Why The Pre-Thanksgiving Period Is Usually Tough For Bitcoin

For years, traders have watched the Thanksgiving trading pattern in Bitcoin. Several analyses of historic BTC Thanksgiving performance show that the period around the U.S. holiday tends to be either flat or slightly negative, with the day before Thanksgiving especially prone to weakness.

Data from multiple sources highlight that: The Wednesday before Thanksgiving has been a red day for Bitcoin in six of the last seven years. 2020 saw the so-called “Thanksgiving Day Massacre”, with BTC plunging roughly 17% in about 24 hours. Even in successful years, the average return around the holiday has hovered around a slightly negative figure, roughly -0.8%, according to one widely cited analysis.

There are several reasons this period can be tricky:

The first is liquidity. U.S. traders, funds, and market makers step back for the holiday, leaving thinner order books. Lower liquidity amplifies the impact of large orders, making it easier for big players to push the BTC price around with relatively less capital.

The second is positioning. After strong autumn rallies, many traders use late November to de-risk, locking in profits before year-end. That means selling pressure can arrive at the exact time that liquidity is drying up.

The third is macro uncertainty. U.S. Thanksgiving often sits just ahead of critical December events such as Federal Reserve meetings, economic data releases, and year-end portfolio rebalancing. That can encourage a cautious stance toward risk assets like Bitcoin.

Because of these factors, the consensus going into 2025’s holiday week was that Bitcoin retesting or losing support was more likely than a clean move higher. Research notes and market commentary even highlighted the odds of a continued slide toward the low-$80K area or below.

Yet the opposite happened.

What Changed In 2025? The Anatomy Of The $90K Break

In 2025, when Bitcoin retook $90K just ahead of Thanksgiving, several forces converged at once. This was not a random spike, but a combination of on-chain flows, derivatives positioning, ETF activity, and macro sentiment.

This combination of reduced leverage, then aggressive short-side positioning, and finally forced short covering is classic for Bitcoin. In thin holiday liquidity, the impact is magnified, allowing a relatively modest influx of buy orders to spark outsized crypto market volatility.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs And Institutional Demand

Another piece of the puzzle in 2025’s rally above $90K was the behavior of spot Bitcoin ETFs and institutional flows. After a stretch of heavy outflows in November, ETF flows started to stabilize and then turned modestly positive heading into Thanksgiving week.

At the same time, data from U.S. exchanges showed a positive Coinbase premium, suggesting that U.S. spot demand was quietly returning as Bitcoin climbed back over key psychological levels.

When institutional accumulation overlaps with: lower futures leverage still-pessimistic sentiment historically weak seasonal expectations

it creates fertile ground for a contrarian move. That is exactly what the break back above $90,000 represented.

Macro Tailwinds And Risk Sentiment

Macro conditions also played a role in Bitcoin retaking $90K. Several reports highlighted growing confidence that the Federal Reserve could cut rates as early as December, with rate-cut odds hovering in the 70–80% range.

During Thanksgiving week, major U.S. equity indices, particularly the Nasdaq Composite, logged their best Thanksgiving performance in years, with tech shares and crypto-linked stocks leading the way. Bitcoin’s push back through $90K both benefitted from and contributed to this risk-on shift.

In short, Bitcoin retakes $90K was not an isolated crypto story; it was also a reflection of a broader risk sentiment rebound across global markets.

How Traders Are Reading The $90K Reclaim

With Bitcoin back over $90,000, traders are split between seeing the move as the start of a new leg higher and viewing it as a classic relief rally within a still-fragile downtrend. Some models of mid-cycle corrections project potential drawdowns of 25–40% from peak levels, which would keep a drop into the $75K–$80K range within normal bounds. This tension makes $90K a pivotal battleground. For many traders, the key question is whether this level transitions from short-term resistance into durable support in the weeks after Thanksgiving.

What Bitcoin Retaking $90K Says About Market Structure

Beyond the immediate trade, the $90K reclaim shines a light on how Bitcoin’s market structure has evolved.

First, it confirms that Bitcoin is now deeply intertwined with traditional finance. The role of spot Bitcoin ETFs, institutional positioning, and correlations with equity indices like the Nasdaq and S&P 500 all underscore that BTC no longer trades in isolation. Macro events, rate expectations, and stock market sentiment can drive BTC price as strongly as crypto-native news.

Second, it illustrates the continued importance of liquidity pockets. Holiday weeks such as Thanksgiving magnify the effect of flows from: When these forces line up, Bitcoin can move thousands of dollars in a single day, even in the absence of a headline catalyst. The 2025 move where Bitcoin retakes $90K during a normally quiet pre-holiday session is a textbook example.

Third, the episode underlines the maturation of on-chain analytics and derivatives data in shaping sentiment. Traders now watch funding rates, basis spreads, exchange flows, and realized profit metrics to gauge whether a move is likely to continue or fade. During the latest rally, signs of reduced leveraged froth and measured spot demand gave bulls more confidence that the bounce could have legs.

Trading And Investing Around The $90K Level

The fact that Bitcoin retook $90K does not automatically mean the bottom is in or that new all-time highs are guaranteed. It does, however, create a useful reference point for thinking about strategy.

Short-term traders often look at levels like $90K as potential pivot zones, where intraday trend reversals, liquidity clusters, and stop orders tend to accumulate. For them, the questions revolve around: If price keeps finding support in the high-$80Ks to low-$90Ks, short-term bulls may press for a retest of $95K–$100K. If it slices back below $90K with heavy volume, bears may regain the upper hand and revisit the $80K support area.

Longer-term participants, including macro investors and Bitcoin “HODLers”, tend to look past the day-to-day noise and focus on: For them, a violent swing from $126K down toward $80K and back above $90K is another example of Bitcoin’s signature high-volatility, high-reward profile. They may view sharp drawdowns as part of the cost of long-term exposure, rather than signals to constantly re-enter and exit positions.

In both cases, sound risk management, realistic time horizons, and an understanding that crypto markets can move extremely quickly remain essential. None of the recent price action guarantees future results.

Outlook: What Bitcoin Retaking $90K Could Mean For 2025 And Beyond

Historically, December has been one of Bitcoin’s better months, with average gains of around 9% since 2014, though that average hides huge variations from year to year.  But history also shows that when Bitcoin suffers a monthly drop of 15% or more, the next month’s average rebound tends to be modest, with stronger recovery often taking three to six months.

That means the Bitcoin retakes $90K moment is important, but not decisive. It signals: resilience after a painful correction ongoing institutional and ETF interest a willingness among traders to challenge a historically bearish holiday window

At the same time, key resistance zones remain above, particularly the $100K–$105K band that several analysts see as critical for avoiding a deeper breakdown back below $80K.

If Bitcoin can consolidate above $90K, gradually rebuild spot demand, and navigate macro events like rate decisions without another shock, the path to retesting six-figure prices becomes more plausible. If not, this pre-Thanksgiving rally may be remembered as a sharp but ultimately temporary respite in a larger mid-cycle downturn.

Either way, the fact that Bitcoin retakes $90K in a break from typical pre-Thanksgiving price action is a reminder that patterns are probabilities, not guarantees. In a market as dynamic and global as Bitcoin, history rhymes—but it rarely repeats perfectly.

Conclusion

The 2025 episode where Bitcoin retakes $90K just before Thanksgiving is a fascinating case study in how sentiment, macro conditions, and market structure interact.

Bitcoin plunged from all-time highs near $126K into one of its steepest monthly declines in years, found support around $80K, and then staged a surprise rally right into a historically weak seasonal window. Thin holiday liquidity, renewed spot demand, shifting ETF flows, and a sharp short squeeze all contributed to the move, while growing expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut added macro tailwinds.

For traders, the $90K level now acts as a crucial pivot, a zone that may define whether this was the start of a new uptrend or a temporary bounce. For long-term investors, the volatility is another chapter in Bitcoin’s long story of violent corrections and outsized recoveries.

Most importantly, the break from typical pre-Thanksgiving price action underscores that even well-documented seasonal tendencies can fail when the underlying forces change. In Bitcoin, the only constant is change, and the latest $90K reclaim shows exactly how quickly narratives can flip.

FAQs

Q. Why did Bitcoin retake $90K before Thanksgiving in 2025?

Bitcoin retook $90K before Thanksgiving thanks to a mix of factors: a rebound from oversold conditions near $80K, a wave of short covering in the derivatives market, stabilizing and then improving spot Bitcoin ETF flows, and a broader risk-on rally in global equities, especially U.S. tech stocks. As rate-cut expectations rose and sentiment improved, fresh spot demand collided with thin holiday liquidity, allowing the BTC price to surge more than 10% in a matter of days.

Q. Is the pre-Thanksgiving rally a sign that the bearish trend is over?

The pre-Thanksgiving rally is a sign of resilience, but it does not, by itself, prove that the bearish phase is over. Bitcoin is still significantly below its all-time high, and technical warning signs such as the death cross and historical patterns of mid-cycle corrections suggest that further volatility is possible. Analysts note that after large monthly drops, recoveries can take months rather than weeks, even when the long-term trend remains up.

Q. Why is the $90K level so important for Bitcoin?

The $90K level is important for several reasons. Psychologically, it is a round number that traders and media latch onto, shaping sentiment. Technically, it sits roughly midway between the $80K support area carved out during the November lows and the $100K–$105K resistance band that many analysts view as the next key hurdle. From a positioning standpoint, both stop-loss orders and new entries cluster around such levels, turning them into liquidity hubs where price often reacts sharply.

Q. How does Bitcoin’s Thanksgiving performance in 2025 compare with previous years?

In previous years, Bitcoin’s Thanksgiving performance has frequently been weak, with several studies showing that the Wednesday before the holiday was negative in six of the past seven years and that 2020 and 2024 both saw notable holiday-period drops.  In 2025, however, Bitcoin did the opposite: it rallied sharply into the holiday, reclaimed $90K, and even traded in the low-$90Ks on Thanksgiving itself. That made 2025 stand out as a year in which Bitcoin broke from its usual bearish seasonal bias around the holiday.

Q. What should traders and investors watch after Bitcoin retakes $90K?

After Bitcoin retakes $90K, traders and investors typically watch several key signals. Price-wise, they monitor whether BTC can hold above $90K on daily and weekly closes and how it behaves if it retests the $80K support or challenges the $100K–$105K resistance area. From a data perspective, they track spot ETF flows, on-chain metrics like long-term holder supply and realized profits, and derivatives indicators such as funding rates and open interest. Macro-wise, attention focuses on Federal Reserve policy, inflation readings, and equity market trends, all of which can heavily influence crypto market volatility in the months following the holiday.

See more;Bitcoin Retakes $90K in Thanksgiving Upswing