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Bitcoin plunges below $90,000 amid global risk asset selloff
Ether is the worst performer among the major cryptos, down more than 6% over the past 24 hours and tumbling below $3,000.
Updated Jan 20, 2026, 3:27 p.m. Published Jan 20, 2026, 3:23 p.m.
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What to know:
- Bitcoin added to earlier losses, falling below $90,000 in U.S. morning trade, while ether dropped below $3,000.
- The declines occurred amid a global risk-off move as Japan's bond market collapsed on Tuesday and President Trump raised new trade threats against the European Union.
- Altcoins are faring worse than bitcoin, with ether's 7% decline leading among the major cryptos.
Bitcoin dropped 3% to below $90,000 during U.S. morning trading on Tuesday after a meltdown in Japan’s government bond market combined with U.S. President Trump’s ongoing tariff threats against Europe to push risk assets sharply lower.
Ether fell more than 7% over the past 24 hours, sending the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network back below a crucial $3,000 mark for the first time since January 2.
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Highlighting altcoin weakness, bitcoin's grip over the crypto market has been steadily climbing. The bitcoin dominance metric, which shows the largest crypto's market share of the overall digital asset market capitalization, rose to 59.8% on Tuesday, according to TradingView data.
"Volatility is back and so in keeping with risk assets, I expect bitcoin to trade lower in response and altcoins would likely be most impacted short-term here," Paul Howard at trading firm Wincent said in a note.
The Nasdaq is lower by nearly 2% on Tuesday. The Nikkei fell 2.5% overnight, while Germany's DAX declined 1%. Precious metals, though, continue to be the preferred safe haven, with gold soaring 3% and silver 7%, both hitting new record highs.
With today’s decline, bitcoin has given up much of its 2026 gains, now trading just 3% above its level at the start of the year.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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XRP drops 4% as traders watch whether $1.88 support holds
Price stabilizes near recent lows after a volatile pullback from above $2.
What to know:
- XRP slipped nearly 4% as bitcoin fell below $88,000, with price action driven more by market structure and positioning than by changes to Ripple’s fundamentals.
- Spot XRP ETFs saw about $40.6 million in weekly outflows, suggesting institutional profit-taking and rotation rather than a loss of confidence in the asset.
- XRP remains range-bound in a tight consolidation between support around $1.88 and resistance near $1.93–$1.95, with fading volume pointing to a larger move once the current stalemate resolves.
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