New York, January 26, 2026, 13:59 EST — Regular session
Bitcoin was up about 1% at $88,152 in New York afternoon trade on Monday, after sliding to $86,126 earlier in the session. Trade stayed jumpy, with buyers still wary of fast reversals.
The next test comes from the Federal Reserve, which is expected to hold rates in the current 3.50%-3.75% range at a meeting that has drawn unusual attention over the central bank’s independence. “It’s not possible to view the actions of the next Fed chair as separate from the economic environment,” Tim Duy, chief U.S. economist at SGH Macro Advisors, said. Reuters
Crypto markets are also digesting the hangover from last week’s selloff, which Investing.com said was amplified by liquidations — the forced closing of leveraged bets in derivatives markets. The outlet put recent liquidations at more than $1 billion across crypto positions.
Strategy Inc, the software company that has turned itself into a leveraged bitcoin buyer, said in an SEC filing it bought 2,932 bitcoin for about $264.1 million between Jan. 20 and Jan. 25, paying an average $90,061 per coin. The company said its bitcoin holdings stood at 712,647 as of Jan. 25, and it financed the latest purchase largely through an at-the-market share sale program — a mechanism for selling stock into the open market over time.
Flows into U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs have been a sore point. Those funds, which hold bitcoin and trade on stock exchanges, saw $1.33 billion in net outflows in the week ended Jan. 23, their weakest week in nearly a year, data cited by Yahoo Finance showed.
On the regulatory front, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to dismiss its case over Gemini’s crypto lending program after investors in Gemini Earn recovered their assets in full through the Genesis bankruptcy process, a filing in Manhattan federal court showed. The SEC has shifted its approach under President Donald Trump, who has promised friendlier crypto rules.
Gold’s surge is bleeding into crypto narratives too. Stablecoin giant Tether said it added about 27 metric tons of gold to its fund exposure in the fourth quarter, as gold pushed through $5,000 an ounce on Monday; a stablecoin is a token designed to keep a steady value, often by holding reserves. “We are operating at a scale that now places the Tether Gold Investment Fund alongside sovereign gold holders, and that carries real responsibility,” CEO Paolo Ardoino said. Reuters
Crypto-linked stocks were mixed to lower. Strategy shares were down about 0.9%, Coinbase was off 1.3% and miners Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms fell more than 2% each, while BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF slid about 1.7%; ether was up about 2.7% at $2,922.
But the bounce can fade fast. A hawkish Fed message, another lurch in Treasury yields, or fresh ETF redemptions could drag bitcoin back toward the month’s lows, with leverage still sitting close to the surface.
Traders’ next hard marker is Jan. 28: the Fed’s policy statement at 2:00 p.m. and Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.
