Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: Which Crypto Makes The Nice List This December? (Op-ed)

Now, Bitcoin started in October and Q4 flying high at a historic record level above $125,000.

After that, the most popular cryptocurrency on Wall Street began a precipitous slide to below $85,000 by the last week in November.

That marked a 32% correction from the record-high. And the situation for many altcoins, including Ethereum, wasn’t much different.

Ethereum and Bitcoin Crashed in November

Both blue-chip cryptos crashed hard in Q4.

Ethereum’s price traced Bitcoin’s overall movements. The smart contract currency and second leading crypto by market cap started in October around the $4,500 handle.

That was also a record-high level, seen only once before in Ethereum’s history, back in 2021. After that, Ether prices crashed to the $2,750 level with nine days left in November.

For the second most popular crypto on the Internet and on Wall Street, the steep correction was a brutal 39% loss on Nov. 21 for Oct. 6 ETH buyers.

But it’s not all doom and gloom for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Both cryptos began to recover the last week in November and continued to perform relatively better as the month rolled over to December.

By Dec. 8, the leading cryptocurrency had bounced back to $92,000, and the runner-up had moved back to $3,150.

Several Bitcoin maximalists and crypto permabulls took a victory lap, taunting followers to cop to who sold and who bought BTC over the last week of November.

BTC vs. ETH Treasuries, Technical Signals

However, the outlook for BTC and ETH is somewhat bleak after the massive corrections over a 50-day window.

But the question now is whether the market has already shaken out all the paper hands or if there will be more wobbling in these cryptos’ near future.

Even the ever-bullish Michael Saylor and his digital asset holding company, Strategy, Inc., are winding down purchases. Saylor, who famously buys Bitcoin at peak prices and brags about it, has backed down on purchases significantly.

In past cycles, 60% and 90% corrections have occurred in both of these block bank altcoins. So it’s not impossible that they could occur again in 2026.

As far as December goes, it’s usually a good month for crypto. In fact, Bitcoin historically has more pronounced Santa Claus rallies than U.S. tech stocks.

Meanwhile, the long-term picture for ETH and BTC from a corporate treasury standpoint is bullish. In December, Ethereum private and public treasuries totaled 5.7 million ETH worth around $17.9 billion.

But Bitcoin private and public treasuries totaled 4 million BTC worth around $616 billion.

Strong BTC and ETH Dip Buying In Q4 Crash

Technical signals for BTC and ETH were somewhat positive on Dec. 8, with prices moving up the chart against the 10, 20, 30, and 50-day moving averages.

Meanwhile, daily trading volume consistently surges despite every big drop in both altcoins’ prices. So, the market is full of crypto investors with long-term conviction and dry powder to buy the dips.

It seems that the psychologically powerful $100,000 price anchor for BTC has enormous gravity, as the pullback from $85,000 was swift and forceful.

Ethereum’s $3,000 marker is also doing the same job. Two tests at $2,750 in November sparked a surge in daily trading volume, with bullish dip buyers.

Which of these two cryptos’ technicals are stronger in the first week of December?  Neither— their hourly price charts and hourly volume signals are so tightly correlated, it’s eerie.

Bitcoin Core Audit vs. Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade

Lacking a clear technical edge in either crypto over the other, trader analysts may look to their respective strategic roadmaps for clues about their TradingView candles in December.

Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade went live on Dec. 3.

The planned hard fork of Ethereum onto newly upgraded blockchain rails helps it move faster to lock in state changes to its computer record.

Markets rewarded both Ethereum and Bitcoin prices in the days leading up to Fusaka, then sold and took profits in the 24 hours following the successful update.

This is an example of the increasingly common “buy the rumor, sell the news” pattern in crypto markets.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has a big milestone update of its own in Q4— Bitcoin Core got its first-ever third-party security audit.

A Paris, France-based cybersecurity firm, Quarkslab, found no critical weaknesses in Bitcoin’s implementation in an audit sponsored by Brink Bitcoin Development.

Bitcoin purists will say the Fusaka upgrade lowers Ethereum’s profitability and security. Etherites will say that it makes Ethereum more competitive against Solana for new app development.

Only December will tell which markets have the edge over these differences.

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