Some Parties Suppressing Bitcoin Price Action, Analyst Alleges

In Brief

• An analyst suggests Bitcoin’s prolonged weakness may be due to deliberate suppression.
• Bitcoin has struggled to hold key price levels in recent weeks, repeated failed breakouts.
• Upcoming market events could either help Bitcoin regain momentum or dip deeper.

Shedrach Kongvong 2025-12-23

As Bitcoin continues to struggle with the prevailing bear market, analysts are starting to speculate that there may be some deliberate actions holding it back. A top crypto analyst says there may be some key figures in the industry suppressing the asset’s rally which many believe is long overdue.

Michaël van de Poppe in an X post said it does not make sense for every other asset to be in a rally except crypto and particularly Bitcoin. His comment is coming after Bitcoin failed to hold above the $90,000 level it reclaimed yesterday amid gold reaching a new all-time high.

Is Bitcoin’s price under manipulation?

For several weeks now, Bitcoin has been moving sideways in a range where $90,000 played a critical role. After losing this level recently, the coin was trading around $86,000 for some time before tapping the $90,000 again but could not keep it. Bitcoin is trading at $87,000 at the time of this report after the retrace.

According to Poppe, there is no reason why this should be happening unless there are people holding the market back. A similar suspicion of manipulation followed the crypto flash crash in October, when Bitcoin dropped from $126,000 to $110,000 within 24 hours. Since then, the market has not fully recovered, with what seems to be a series of retraces and corrections.

#Bitcoin rejects at a crucial resistance zone and continues the sideways price action.

That's unfortunate, but it remains to be building and upwards trend on the lower timeframes.

Rejection at $90K isn't a bad sign, as of yet.

The markets clearly want $86K to hold as… pic.twitter.com/iBG0xqPQ7o

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) December 23, 2025

Poppe says Bitcoin may be eyeing $86,000 as a support that needs to strengthen before another leg up that may be sustained. Meanwhile, analysts have been predicting a bottom for Bitcoin, saying a reversal is imminent. The fact that almost none of those predictions played out has caused not Just Poppe but many other analysts to suspect some manipulation.

Bitcoin Still Has a Chance at redemption

The future looks bleak for Bitcoin right now, and it’s even worse for altcoins. Fortunately, there may be some hope for respite. The largest Bitcoin expiry of 2025 is set to happen on December 26th, and analysts say the resulting volatility may be the trigger Bitcoin needs to finally break above $94,000.

On the flipside, the expiry event may also have a negative effect on the coin, pushing the price lower than we have seen. This could potentially worsen the already precarious situation of Bitcoin in the coming days.