Bitcoin Sees Sudden Drop to 2023 Lows of $24K on Binance: Key Insights

Summary: Bitcoin faced a sudden and significant drop in price on December 24, 2025, reaching levels last seen in 2023. The sharp decline, which momentarily touched $24,111, was linked to a liquidity issue rather than a broader market trend. Despite this event, Bitcoin quickly regained stability.

Key Takeaways

Bitcoin Volatility: Bitcoin's price plummeted to $24,111 on December 24 before recovering to around $87,880 shortly after.
Liquidity Issues: The price drop was attributed to low liquidity and high market orders, not a general market crash.
Market Context: Despite the drop, Bitcoin's year-to-date decline remains minor compared to other cryptocurrencies.
Recent Performance: Bitcoin is down only 6.4% year-to-date, while many other top cryptocurrencies have experienced larger losses.

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Overview of the Incident

On December 24, at approximately 09:15 a.m. (UTC), Bitcoin experienced an unexpected surge in volatility. On the Binance exchange, the BTC/USD trading pair exhibited a sharp downward spike, dropping abruptly from around $86,000 to a low of $24,111. This level had not been seen since September 2023 when Bitcoin had begun its recovery from a bear market. After that low, Bitcoin had achieved significant gains, peaking at $126,198 in October 2025.

BTC Crash on Binance

Quick Recovery Following the Drop

Market participants were momentarily unsettled by this steep decline, but the BTC/USD pair quickly rebounded, restoring confidence in traders. Following this rapid recovery, Bitcoin stabilized around $87,880. Such extreme price fluctuations are often associated with low liquidity conditions or specific exchange issues rather than a broader shift in sentiment.

Identifying the Cause

Catherine Chan, an executive at Solv Protocol, clarified that this occurrence should not be classified as a market crash, but rather as a liquidity-driven event. The volatility followed Binance's introduction of a 20% fixed Annual Percentage Yield (APY) deposit promotion, which significantly increased demand for the USD1 stablecoin. Users began exchanging USDT for USD1, causing the stablecoin to trade at a noteworthy 0.39% premium—an unusual move for a stable asset.

Chan explained that some advanced traders took the opportunity to borrow USD1 on Lista DAO using SolvBTC or SolvBTC-BTCB as collateral, with an APR of about 0.5%. However, a sudden market sell order for USD1 led to an immediate reversal as the thin liquidity in that pair caused most available buy orders to be consumed, leading to the steep price drop.

Historical Context

This was not the first instance of extreme volatility in the BTC/USD pair; a similar occurrence took place on December 10, when the price fell sharply from around $96,000 to $76,000 due to comparable circumstances.

Bitcoin's Position in a Challenging Market

As Bitcoin navigates this incident, it faces ongoing downward pressure along with the broader cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin has seen a month-to-date decline of 4.43%, extending its year-to-date drop to 6.4%. In comparison, other prominent cryptocurrencies such as XRP, Ethereum, and Solana have experienced greater declines, at 10.3%, 12.4%, and 35%, respectively.

Among the top-10 cryptocurrencies, only a handful, including Bitcoin Cash, Tron, and BNB, have exceeded Bitcoin's performance this year. At the time of this writing, Bitcoin was hovering around $87,601, marking a 30.7% drop from its all-time high of $126,198 reached in October 2025.

Disclaimer: This content is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. The author's opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of The Crypto Basic. Readers should conduct their own research before making investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not liable for any financial losses.