Why Is Crypto Down Today? – January 16, 2026

What Happened

Under the revised framework, the Electronic Securities Act allows eligible issuers to create tokenised securities using blockchain infrastructure. At the same time, Amendments to the Capital Markets Act allow those products to be traded as investment contract securities through brokerages and other licensed intermediaries.

Moreover, Lienkha argued that BTC could proceed to close the performance gap if US equity indices continue trading near all-time highs. This would reflect “strong investor confidence and relatively supportive financial conditions.” It may also lead to BTC moving towards its previous ATH. Additionally, periods of sustained strength in equities have historically “often provided a favourable backdrop for Bitcoin.”

Lienkha concluded: “ETF flows primarily reflect broader market sentiment rather than acting as an independent driver of price action, as a significant portion of ETF investors are retail participants similar to those investing directly in Bitcoin. While sentiment and, therefore, short-term momentum can shift quickly, such changes are unlikely to materially alter Bitcoin’s long-term fundamental trajectory.”

Market Context

The crypto market is down today. The cryptocurrency market capitalisation has decreased by 0.9% over the past 24 hours to $3.33 trillion. At the time of writing, 88 of the top 100 coins have posted price drops. Also, the total crypto trading volume stands at $131 billion.

Nine of the top 10 coins per market capitalisation have seen their prices fall over the past 24 hours, as of Friday morning (UTC).

Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen by 0.8% since this time yesterday, currently trading at $95,702. It’s among the higher drops in this category today.

Ethereum (ETH) decreased by 0.3%, now trading at $3,315. This is among the lowest drops in the category.

XRP follows with a 1% decrease to the price of $2.08.

The only increase is Tron (TRX)’s 0.5%, trading at $0.308.

Of the top 100 coins per market cap, 88 are down today.

The highest drop in this category is 7.7% by Zcash (ZEC) to the price of $409.

Aptos (APT) is next on the list, having dropped by 5.8% and trading at $1.8.

Meanwhile, South Korea took a massive step towards formalising blockchain-based capital markets. The country’s lawmakers moved forward with a piece of legislation that established a legal framework for issuing and trading tokenised securities.

According to Ruslan Lienkha, chief of markets at YouHodler, Bitcoin is currently undervalued, as it has shown a clear divergence from other risk assets over the past few months, particularly U.S. equities.

“Given Bitcoin’s inherent volatility, such divergences do occur but are typically temporary. The recent price action suggests that BTC is now moving toward a fairer valuation, closer to its previous all-time highs, rather than running ahead of fundamentals.”

Why It Matters

Lienkha added that he doesn’t expect “prolonged stalling at current levels.” It’s more likely that BTC will either retest the $90,000 area or move higher toward $100,000.

Details

Crypto Winners & Losers

The highest fall in this timeframe is Dogecoin (DOGE)’s 2.6%, currently standing at $0.14.

The rest are down 4.5% and less per coin.

As for the green coins among the top 100, Dash (DASH) was the winner with a 15.9% rise, currently standing at $95.5.

MemeCore (M) and Pump.fun (PUMP) followed with increases of 6.4% and 6.1% to $1.64 and $0.002912, respectively.

The rest are up 3% and less per coin.

No Stalling For Bitcoin

“From a technical perspective, $100,000 represents the next significant resistance level, while the $90,000 zone would act as the nearest meaningful support in the event of a pullback,” Lienkha writes.