New York, January 21, 2026, 17:07 EST — After-hours.
- Bitcoin up about 0.8% near $90,200 after dipping under $88,000 earlier.
- Risk appetite steadied after Trump said tariffs slated for Feb. 1 would not go ahead.
- Traders now watch Thursday’s delayed PCE inflation data and next week’s Fed decision.
Bitcoin rose about 0.8% to $90,200 by late afternoon in New York, paring earlier losses after it fell as low as $87,304.
The turn came as global markets rebounded from Tuesday’s selloff after U.S. President Donald Trump said a framework over Greenland had been reached and he would not impose tariffs scheduled for Feb. 1. “Uncertainty just got priced out,” Matthew Smart, director at WWM Investments, said. (Reuters)
That matters for crypto now because bitcoin has been trading like a risk barometer, moving with shifts in investor appetite for volatile assets. Tuesday’s drop in U.S. stocks followed Trump’s earlier tariff threat tied to Greenland, which pushed investors into safer corners of the market. (Reuters)
Rates are the other hinge. A Reuters poll showed economists expect the Federal Reserve to keep its policy rate at 3.50%–3.75% at its Jan. 27-28 meeting, a shift from last month when most expected a cut by March. “The economic outlook on the surface suggests the Fed should remain on hold,” Jeremy Schwartz, a senior U.S. economist at Nomura, said. (Reuters)
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, rose about 1.4% to $3,033. In late U.S. trade, Strategy was up about 2.3% and Coinbase slipped about 0.4%.
Flows have been jittery. U.S.-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds — stock-market vehicles that hold bitcoin directly — logged net outflows of about $479.7 million on Jan. 20, according to Farside Investors’ daily tally. (Farside Investors)
Corporate buying has added another layer. Strategy said this week it bought about $2.13 billion of bitcoin over eight days, according to a regulatory filing, lifting its holdings to 709,715 bitcoin as of Jan. 19. “Strategy is still buying Bitcoin because stopping would be as much a signal to the market as purchasing more,” said Nic Puckrin, an analyst and co-founder of Coin Bureau. (Reuters)
At Davos, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci said he still sees bitcoin’s long-term story intact despite the pullback from last year’s highs. “This is more of a timing issue than a direction issue,” he told Reuters, adding he would like to see bitcoin back to $125,000 to $150,000. (Reuters)
But the bounce has a thin margin for error. A fresh flare-up in tariff headlines, another jump in long-dated yields, or sustained ETF outflows could force the market back into liquidation mode.
Next up is Thursday’s Personal Consumption Expenditures report — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — which has been delayed by the government shutdown and will cover older data than usual. “Fed officials are likely to want to see several more months of data,” Brett Ryan, senior U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, wrote, as traders brace for the Jan. 27-28 Fed meeting. (Investopedia)
