New York, Jan 22, 2026, 06:20 (EST) — Premarket
- Bitcoin climbed 0.8% to $89,874, staying just below the $90,000 mark
- A retreat on Trump tariffs concerning Greenland eased pressure on risk markets, yet Japan’s bond selloff continues to weigh on rates.
- Data from Derive.xyz reveals options traders continue to shell out for downside protection through mid-year
Bitcoin climbed 0.8% to $89,874 on Thursday, staying just shy of the $90,000 level after fluctuating between $87,304 and $90,379. Ether gained roughly 1%, reaching $2,996.
The rally holds the world’s largest cryptocurrency near a point traders see more as a sentiment indicator than a key benchmark. Recent sessions have tied bitcoin’s moves to the same forces influencing rates and equities: political developments, long-term bond yields, and the speed at which investors retreat to cash.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump pulled back a tariff threat linked to Greenland, announcing that a framework deal was struck. The move triggered a relief rally in risk assets. “They’re rallying because uncertainty just got priced out,” Matthew Smart, director of financial planning and portfolio analysis at WWM Investments, said. (Reuters)
That brief relief hasn’t erased the bigger concern: Japan’s bond market. On Tuesday, 30-year Japanese government bond yields surged 27 basis points to a record high of 3.88% before pulling back. Investors are now waiting to see if the Bank of Japan intervenes at its meeting ending Friday. “At some point there will be question marks as to whether the Bank of Japan can continue to run off its holdings,” said Ian Samson, a multi-asset portfolio manager at Fidelity International. (Reuters)
Earlier this week, Japan’s move rippled through global borrowing costs and tangled with the Greenland standoff, driving long-dated U.S. yields back into focus. “It pulls a lot of global bond markets into a difficult story about debt,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. (Reuters)
Crypto’s cautious mood persists. Sean Dawson, head of research at Derive.xyz, noted that implied volatility—derived from option prices—has dropped to about 38%. Still, options markets reveal a clear downside bias, with roughly a 30% probability of bitcoin falling below $80,000 by June 26, compared to a 19% chance it climbs above $120,000. (Derive Insights)
Corporate demand remains in focus. Strategy, the bitcoin-centric firm run by Michael Saylor, reported purchasing roughly $2.13 billion in bitcoin over the past few days. At the same time, Intercontinental Exchange unveiled a new platform aimed at trading and on-chain settlement of tokenized securities. (Reuters)
Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital, said the recent volatility feels more like a timing hiccup than a fundamental flaw. “All of us in the bitcoin community got overly enthusiastic” about a swift end to “repressive regulation,” he told Reuters, referencing ongoing crypto market-structure legislation. Bitcoin still trades roughly 29% below its October 2025 peak above $126,000, following last year’s crash that wiped out over $19 billion in leveraged liquidations. (Reuters)
But that $90,000 level hasn’t held up as support. Traders warn that if yields spike once more or political news takes a sudden turn, leverage could unravel quickly. When that happens, crypto tends to move more violently than equities.
Attention now turns to the U.S. macroeconomic data. Weekly jobless claims and November’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation measure, are set for release at 1330 GMT. (Reuters)
A stronger PCE report might dampen hopes for rate cuts and send the dollar back into the spotlight; a weaker print could open the door for bitcoin to break firmly past $90,000. On Friday, all eyes turn to Japan’s central bank — will it step in to steady the bond sell-off, or allow the turmoil to continue?
