The cryptocurrency industry was quick to give up even the slightest sign of overnight gains at the start of the U.S. trading day.
Bitcoin briefly topped $89,000 as the U.S. slept on Friday As US stocks opened after the Christmas holiday, prices quickly fell back below $87,000.
This poor price action for cryptocurrency bulls is happening again as metals continue to surge, with gold, silver, copper and platinum all hitting new highs on Friday.
The metals may also benefit from rising geopolitical tensions, which have attracted capital that might otherwise have flowed to Bitcoin as part of the global depreciation trade, after the United States attacked Islamic State targets in Nigeria on Christmas Day and stepped up pressure on Venezuela by blocking sanctioned oil tankers.
Palladium and platinum led metal gains, each rising more than 10%, while silver and copper rose 5%. Gold rose 1.5% to $4,573 an ounce.
The Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow were nearly unchanged in early trading.
Bitcoin down 1.6% in past 24 hours; Ether Also dropped. fell more than 4% and It fell 3%, leading to losses in other parts of the industry.
Crypto stocks also posted losses, with Coinbase (COIN), named one of the top three most promising fintech ideas of 2026 by Clear Street’s Owen Lau, outperforming the market, down just 2%. Gemini (GEMI) fell 6%, Bullish (BLSH) fell 3.8% and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) fell 3.5%.
Bitcoin miners were particularly hard hit in the early post-Christmas trading period, even those that shifted their business models from Bitcoin mining to artificial intelligence infrastructure. IREN (IREN), Cipher Mining (CIFR), Terawulf (WULF) and Marathon Digital (MARA) all fell 5% or more. Hut 8 (HUT) has been a standout performer among AI initiatives over the past week, with the biggest decline on Friday, down 7.5%.
