Bitcoin slides toward $91,000 with two CME pricing gaps coming into focus
TL;DR
Bitcoin is declining toward $91,000 as traders watch two unfilled CME futures price gaps near $90,600 and $88,000. These gaps often attract price retracements, creating technical pressure. Similar gap dynamics are emerging in Bitcoin ETFs like BlackRock's IBIT.
Key Takeaways
- •Bitcoin's drop toward $91,000 aligns with potential retracements to fill CME futures gaps created when markets are closed.
- •Two key CME gaps are being monitored: one near $90,600 (requiring a 1.6% drop from current levels) and another near $88,000 (requiring a 4% drop).
- •CME gaps frequently attract price action as traders position for 'gap fills,' though this behavior isn't guaranteed.
- •Similar gap patterns are appearing in Bitcoin ETFs like BlackRock's IBIT, which may become additional technical reference points.
- •Bitcoin failed to break above $94,500 for the third time in five weeks, falling back into December's trading range while altcoins saw steeper losses.
What to know:
- Bitcoin weakness towards the $91,000 level aligns with a potential move to fill the CME weekend gap.
- A CME gap refers to an untraded price range that forms when bitcoin moves while CME futures markets are closed on Friday through Sunday.
- CME futures gaps near $90,600 and $88,000 remain closely watched for potential retracements.
- Bitcoin weakness towards the $91,000 level aligns with a potential move to fill the CME weekend gap.
- A CME gap refers to an untraded price range that forms when bitcoin moves while CME futures markets are closed on Friday through Sunday.
- CME futures gaps near $90,600 and $88,000 remain closely watched for potential retracements.
Bitcoin’s BTC$91,227.36 drop to just above $91,000 may be encountering technical gravity as an unfilled CME gap remains just below current prices.
The gap was created over the weekend after CME bitcoin futures closed on Friday near $90,600 and reopened on Sunday evening around $91,600.
CME bitcoin futures are cash-settled contracts designed to track the price of the largest cryptocurrency. Unlike spot markets, they do not trade 24/7. Instead, they close for an hour each day and over the weekend, meaning price gaps can form if bitcoin moves markedly at those times.
These gaps are closely watched by traders, because bitcoin has historically shown a tendency to retrace and trade back through them, a process commonly referred to as filling the gap.
While not a guaranteed behavior, gap fills have occurred frequently enough to become an established market narrative. In many cases, the retracement happens within days — often within the first week — after the gap forms, although some gaps can remain open for longer.
This behavior is comparable to the max pain theory in options markets, where widely observed technical reference points can influence price action. As with max pain, the CME gap dynamic can become self reinforcing, as traders position for a move toward the gap simply because it exists.
A similar gap dynamic is also emerging in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) exchange-traded fund, which closed Tuesday at $52.45. Gaps are open around the $48 and $50 levels, highlighting how ETF trading behavior may increasingly mirror futures based technical patterns. As IBIT becomes more embedded within the bitcoin market structure and begins to rival CME futures in influence, these gaps could become another technical reference point for traders.
As of press time, CME bitcoin futures are trading around $91,900. From this level, the price would need to fall roughly 1.6% to fill the weekend gap near $90,600, and a further 4% decline would be required to fill the New Year’s Day gap around $88,000.
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
- BNB fell below $900 amid a broader market decline, even after recent technical upgrades and ecosystem developments on the BNB Chain.
- The BNB Chain's layer-2 network, opBNB, recently completed a major upgrade, the Fourier hard fork, which doubled transaction throughput and cut block times in half.
- To regain bullish momentum, BNB needs to break out of its current downtrend and reclaim resistance levels near $906, otherwise it may face further pressure toward $892.
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