NEW YORK, January 2, 2026, 07:51 ET — Premarket
- Bitcoin opened 2026 higher, with traders again testing the $90,000 level.
- U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs stayed in focus after year-end outflows.
- Crypto-linked stocks were mostly lower in early U.S. trading.
Bitcoin rose 1.8% to $89,441 early Friday, edging back toward $90,000 after a soft finish to 2025. It traded between $87,722 and $89,797.
The move comes as investors reopen portfolios on the first U.S. trading day of 2026, with stock index futures higher and risk appetite improving after late-December declines. At 05:45 a.m. ET, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 1.05%, while S&P 500 and Dow futures were up 0.60% and 0.35%.
Currency markets started the year with the dollar firmer, and traders are looking to next week’s U.S. payrolls and jobless data for clues on interest rates in 2026. Reuters also reported markets were bracing for President Donald Trump’s choice of a new Federal Reserve chair later this month.
Bitcoin is trying to stabilize after finishing 2025 down more than 6% despite touching a record above $126,000 in early October, Reuters reported. “Bitcoin increasingly exhibits the characteristics of a risk asset … with a notable correlation to the U.S. equity market,” said Linh Tran, a senior market analyst at XS.com. Reuters
Attention has also stayed on spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which let investors buy bitcoin exposure through a stock-market wrapper. Data from Farside Investors showed those ETFs recorded net outflows of $348.1 million on Dec. 31, after a $355.1 million net inflow the previous session.
Crypto-linked shares were softer in U.S. premarket trading. Coinbase slid 2.4% and Strategy fell 2.3%, while miners Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms were down 3.6% and 0.4%; major spot bitcoin ETFs such as BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s FBTC also edged lower.
Other major tokens rose alongside bitcoin. Ether gained 2.3%, XRP climbed 2.7% and solana was up about 2.7%.
The renewed push toward $90,000 underscores the tug-of-war between year-end de-risking and the usual early-January repositioning. Traders often treat round-number levels as inflection points because they concentrate stop-loss and take-profit orders.
The next test may come from macro data rather than crypto-specific headlines. The U.S. jobs report due Jan. 9 is expected to show payrolls up 55,000 in December, with unemployment at 4.6%, according to a Reuters poll; consumer price index data is due Jan. 13, and futures markets showed little chance of a rate cut at the Fed’s late-January meeting and close to a 50% probability of a quarter-point cut in March.
For bitcoin, shifting rate expectations can matter as much as any crypto headline, because lower yields tend to support risk assets by improving liquidity and making cash returns less attractive. That link can flip quickly if data revives inflation worries.
