New York, Jan 5, 2026, 09:59 EST — Regular session
- Bitcoin rose about 2.4% to around $93,500, lifting U.S.-listed crypto stocks in early trade.
- Strategy disclosed a fresh bitcoin purchase in an SEC filing, while investors digested fallout from the U.S. capture of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.
- Traders are watching U.S. ISM factory data due at 10 a.m. ET and the Jan. 9 payrolls report.
Bitcoin climbed on Monday morning as crypto-linked stocks rallied after Strategy disclosed another bitcoin purchase and investors weighed the market impact of Washington’s dramatic move in Venezuela. Bitcoin was up 2.4% at $93,501 by 9:59 a.m. EST.
The move matters now because bitcoin is starting the first full trading week of 2026 with geopolitics back on the tape and a run of U.S. data that can quickly reset interest-rate expectations. That mix has been driving sharp swings across “risk” assets — markets that tend to rise when investors feel confident and fall when they don’t.
Bitcoin trades 24/7, but U.S.-listed crypto stocks often magnify its moves during the equity session as investors express directional bets through shares. Volume also tends to jump early in the year as portfolios are repositioned.
Strategy Inc said it bought 1,283 bitcoin for about $116.0 million between Jan. 1 and Jan. 4, paying an average price of $90,391 per coin, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed. The company said it used proceeds from its at-the-market (ATM) share-sale program — a facility that lets a company sell newly issued stock into the market from time to time — to fund the purchases. The filing also flagged unrealized losses on digital assets in 2025 and said its bitcoin holdings stood at 673,783 as of Jan. 4.
In early U.S. trading, Coinbase Global rose 6.6% to $252.17, while Strategy gained 5.7% to $166.16. Bitcoin miners Marathon Digital climbed 6.2% and Riot Platforms added 4.0%.
Investors also kept an eye on headlines from Venezuela after U.S. forces captured President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend, a move President Donald Trump said would put the country under temporary American control. “Unlikely to have meaningful near-term economic consequences for the global economy,” Neil Shearing at Capital Economics said, while warning the political ramifications would reverberate. Reuters
The macro calendar is another near-term test. The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing report is due at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, while the U.S. Labor Department’s employment report for December is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 9.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, was up 1.0% at $3,167.06. Traders often watch ether alongside bitcoin because broad shifts in risk appetite tend to move the sector together.
But crypto remains sensitive to abrupt policy and geopolitical headlines, and to any data surprise that pushes Treasury yields higher and supports the dollar — a mix that can sap demand for assets that do not pay interest. Company-specific risk also looms for bitcoin-proxy shares, where dilution and financing costs can matter as much as the coin’s price.
For the rest of the session, traders will look for follow-through after the ISM data at 10 a.m. ET. The next major catalyst is Friday’s U.S. payrolls report on Jan. 9.
