Why Is Crypto Down Today? – January 20, 2026

What Happened

Crypto Winners & Losers

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 1.6% since this time yesterday, changing hands at $91,020.

The lowest fall in this period is seen by Dogecoin (DOGE), given that it’s unchanged since yesterday, currently standing at $0.127.

Market Context

The crypto market is down today, with the cryptocurrency market capitalisation having decreased by 1.6% over the past 24 hours to $3.17 trillion. At the time of writing, 85 of the top 100 coins have posted price falls. Also, the total crypto trading volume stands at $105 billion.

As of Tuesday morning (UTC), all top 10 coins per market capitalisation have seen price decreases over the past 24 hours.

Ethereum (ETH) decreased by 2.5%, now trading at $3,117. This is the highest decrease in the category.

Lido Staked Ether (STETH) is next, with a 2.4% drop, followed by Tron (TRX)’s 1.9% to the price of $0.3116.

Of the top 100 coins per market cap, 85 are down today.

The highest among these is Provenance Blockchain (HASH), having decreased by 8.9% to the price of $0.02567.

Monero (XMR) is next on this list, having seen a drop of 7.2%, trading at $588.

It’s followed by MemeCore (M), which appreciated 5% to the price of $1.67.

Meanwhile, Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong said he would be discussing the US crypto market structure in Davos this week.

“We’re going to continue to work on the market structure legislation, and meet with some of the bank CEOs to figure out how we can make this a win-win,” he said.

Market Spiralling Into Risk-Off Mode

Commenting on the conditions needed for a sustained recovery, Bitfinex analysts argued that “for a more durable rally to take hold, market structure will need to transition into a regime where maturation supply begins to outweigh long-term holder spending.”

Kozyakov also noted a dive in Asian trading that “evaporated” most of BTC’s year’s gains. Even though sentiment turned positive at the start of the year, “the pullback in digital assets suggests that optimism was on thin ice, underscored by multi-million-dollar liquidations across derivatives markets.”

Why It Matters

In other news, a recent spike in activity on the Ethereum network may be partly driven by address poisoning attacks, rather than organic user growth.

“Address poisoning has become disproportionately attractive for attackers,” security researcher Andrey Sergeenkov said, adding that scaling blockchain infrastructure without prioritising user safety risks distorts headline activity metrics.

Such a shift would drive long-term holder (LTH) supply higher, which would signal renewed conviction and reduced sell-side pressure. Historically, analysts add, this configuration was last observed in August 2022–September 2023 and March 2024–July 2025. Both periods “preceded stronger and more sustained trend recoveries for Bitcoin.”

Details

On the other hand, Canton (CC) is the only coin with a double-digit increase. It’s up 12.4% to $0.1251.

The rest are up between 4.9% and 0.2% per coin.

Moreover, according to the latest Bitfinex report, BTC is moving into a dense LTH supply zone between $93,000 and $110,000. Previous recovery attempts stalled there. LTHs remain net sellers, but the pace of distribution has slowed sharply, they write. Realised profits are down to around 12,800 BTC per week from cycle peaks above 100,000 BTC.

“This moderation, combined with supportive Q1 seasonality and stronger order-flow dynamics than prior rallies, improves the probability that BTC can absorb overhead supply,” Bitfinex says. “A sustained move through this zone would require further easing in LTH sell pressure, paving the way for a more durable recovery and a potential re-test of all-time highs.”

Meanwhile, Petr Kozyakov, co-founder and CEO at payment infrastructure platform Mercuryo, commented that “Bitcoin is on the back foot, dropping 3 per cent after US President Donald Trump once again raised the stick of further tariffs, threatening NATO allies over control of Greenland.”