Share this article
Bitcoin slips back to $88,500 as silver tops $100 for first time ever and gold eyes $5,000
Spot bitcoin ETFs booked over $1.6 billion in outflows in four days, underscoring the rapid reversal in investor demand after last week's strong inflows.
Jan 23, 2026, 3:34 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
What to know:
- In another tough start to the U.S. session, bitcoin pulled back to the $88,500 area.
- The action came as precious metals continued to soar, with silver toppping $100 per ounce for the first time ever.
- Returns during the U.S. day were quite strong during the first two weeks of the year, but they've evaporated over the past week.
Bitcoin on Friday once again started the U.S. session with a sharp move lower, tumbling back to $88,500 even as precious metals continued breakneck rallies, with silver topping $100 per ounce for the first time ever. Gold was just shy of $5,000 per ounce, while platinum soared 5% to a new all-time high. Not a precious metal, but maybe soon to become one at this pace, copper rose 2.5% to just below a record high.
Crypto-related stocks moved lower as well. Coinbase (COIN) was down 2.6%, while Strategy (MSTR) slid 1.2%. Bitcoin miners Riot Platforms (RIOT) and MARA Holdings (MARA) posted 2% declines.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The decline in crypto also came as U.S. stocks brushed off early losses to turn mostly higher, with the Nasdaq ahead 0.4% despite a 15% post-earnings plunge in Intel (INTC).
The company beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations but disappointed with first-quarter guidance, in part due to AI chip supply constraints. The stock remains higher by 17% year to date.
Bitcoin U.S. returns sink
When bitcoin reached $98,000 last week, the cumulative returns this year during the U.S. trading sessions were as high as 9%, noted CoinDesk senior analyst James Van Straten. Since then, those returns have dropped to just 2%, underscoring weaker demand for BTC from U.S. investors. That coincided with heavy outflows from U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, investors withdrawing over $1.6 billion in the last four sessions.
Jasper De Maere, desk strategist at crypto trading firm Wintermute, noted a recent uptick in stablecoin redemptions into fiat, signaling that some institutional players who had re-entered the market earlier this year may now be stepping back.
More For You
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.
More For You
Here's what bitcoin bulls are saying as price remains stuck during global rally
It's about a lot more than "zooming out." Supply overhangs and investor "muscle memory" regarding gold help explain bitcoin's poor absolute and relative performance.
What to know:
- Bitcoin has failed so far to act as an inflation hedge or safe-haven asset, lagging badly behind gold, which has surged amid high inflation, wars, and interest rate uncertainty.
- Crypto advocates argue that bitcoin’s weakness reflects a temporary supply overhang, investor “muscle memory” favoring familiar precious metals and its correlation with risk assets, rather than a collapse in long-term demand.
- Many bitcoin proponents still see BTC as a superior long-term store of value and “digital gold,” predicting that, once traditional hard assets are overbought, capital will rotate into bitcoin, allowing it to “catch up” to gold.
Top Stories
