Eric Trump’s American Bitcoin price craters 40% as lockup expires

American Bitcoin price (American Bitcoin Corp, NASDAQ) has spent the last 24 hours grinding higher in a volatile post-crash bounce, trading in a wide intraday range but ultimately sitting roughly mid-range after yesterday’s lock-up‑driven wipeout.

Summary

• American Bitcoin price fell nearly 40% after pre‑merger private placement shares came unlocked and early investors sold.​
• Eric Trump called the volatility expected, said fundamentals are “virtually unmatched,” and pledged not to sell his shares.​
• Despite strong Q3 earnings and 4,090 BTC in treasury, ABTC is down about 76.5% from its September peak amid a broader crypto equity slump.

Traders watched American Bitcoin price fall off a cliff on Dec. 2. The Trump‑family‑backed miner opened into a wave of selling as locked‑up shares came free, and the stock briefly lost almost half its value before staggering into the close nearly 40% lower on the day.​

However, by Dec. 4, intraday, price ranged roughly between 2.25 USD and 2.77 USD, signaling aggressive two‑way flow and short‑term mean reversion after the prior day’s capitulation.

Eric Trump and American Bitcoin

ABTC, which trades on Nasdaq, dropped from a previous close of 3.58 dollars to an intraday low of 1.80 dollars in the first hour on Dec. 2, before recovering part of the move to finish at 2.19 dollars, a 38.83% loss. The plunge lined up directly with the end of the lockup on pre‑merger private placement shares that were issued before American Bitcoin completed its merger with Gryphon Digital Mining and listed in September.​

“Today our pre‑merger private placement shares unlocked — these early investors are freely available to cash in on their profits for the first time, which is why we will see volatility,” co‑founder Eric Trump wrote on X, trying to frame the event as mechanical selling rather than a sudden collapse in confidence. Trump added that the company’s fundamentals are “virtually unmatched” and underlined that he is not selling his own stake, casting himself as a long‑term holder in the middle of the turmoil.

Strong quarter, growing bitcoin stack

The selloff comes just weeks after American Bitcoin reported what it called strong third‑quarter results. Revenue jumped to 64.2 million dollars from 11.6 million dollars a year earlier, while net income reached 3.5 million dollars compared with a 0.6 million dollar loss in the same quarter of the previous year. “We more than doubled our mining capacity, more than doubled revenue, and grew gross margin by seven percentage points quarter-over-quarter,” CEO Michael Ho said at the time, arguing the business is scaling rapidly.​

Alongside that expansion, the company has been building its own bitcoin reserve. As of 13 November, American Bitcoin said it held around 4,090 BTC in its treasury, counting coins in custody and those pledged toward miner purchases, giving shareholders direct exposure to the asset as well as the mining operation.​

Shares under pressure, sector under strain

Despite the upbeat metrics, the stock has been grinding lower for months. Since hitting a 9.31 dollar peak in September, ABTC has fallen about 76.5%, turning the name into one of the more volatile listed bitcoin proxies. The latest drop simply accelerated that trend, compressing a slow rerating into a single trading session.​

The backdrop across crypto‑linked equities has not helped. Coinbase is down 20% over the past month, USDC issuer Circle has fallen 39%, and Gemini has slipped 47%, reflecting a wider slump as digital‑asset markets remain weak. Looking ahead, Clear Street analyst Brian Dobson told Bloomberg that further equity unlocks for ABTC are scheduled in 2026 and advised investors to watch those expirations closely, warning that more supply could add pressure to an already fragile stock.