Why Is Crypto Down Today? – January 21, 2026

What Happened

Crypto Winners & Losers

Ethereum (ETH) decreased by 5%, below $3,000, now changing hands at $2,965. This is the highest decrease in the category.

Currently, the lowest fall in this period is seen by Dogecoin (DOGE), which dropped 1.8%, currently standing at $0.1248.

Market Context

The crypto market is down today again. The cryptocurrency market capitalisation decreased by 2.4% over the past 24 hours to $3.1 trillion. At the time of writing, 92 of the top 100 coins have posted price falls. The total crypto trading volume stands at $152 billion.

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

Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 2.2% and below $90,000. It is currently trading at $89,104.

Lido Staked Ether (STETH) is next, also with a 5% drop to $2,965, followed by Binance Coin (BNB)’s 4.7% to the price of $874.

Of the top 100 coins per market cap, 92 are down today. Of the eight green coins, Provenance Blockchain (HASH) is the category’s best performer. It appreciated 4.9% to the price of $0.02724.

On the other hand, Monero (XMR) posted a double-digit decrease of 15.2%, trading at $492.

It’s followed by Hyperliquid (HYPE), which fell by 8.2% to the price of $21.27.

Meanwhile, alternative asset manager SkyBridge Capital is leaning harder into macro trades, given the increasing policy uncertainty under the US President Donald Trump is rising market volatility. “Because of the volatility, the macro traders have done better,” founder Anthony Scaramucci said.

Sean Dawson, Head of Research at onchain options platform Derive.xyz, commented that any current market calm is unlikely to last. Even if markets appear calm on the surface, macro risks are building.

We’re seeing rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Europe, particularly around Greenland. These are raising “the risk of a regime shift back into a higher-volatility environment, a dynamic not currently reflected in spot prices,” Dawson says.

“Against a backdrop of persistent geopolitical uncertainty, crypto markets appear more risk-averse than in previous cycles, despite historically low realised volatility.”

“This persistent skew suggests markets are increasingly positioned for weakness in the first half of the year, Dawson writes.

Moreover, the above view is reinforced by positioning, he argues. Observing the BTC June 26 expiry, he finds a significant concentration of put open interest across the $75,000-$85,000 strikes. This implies “expectations of a drawdown into the mid-70s to low-80s before the second half of the year.”

Additionally, options markets show a clear downside skew. There is now a 30% chance that BTC will fall below $80,000 by 26 June, compared to a 19% chance it rallies above $120,000 in the same period.

“These expectations are consistent with trends established since October 10’s flash crash. While markets have stabilised modestly since then, BTC’s rebound above $90,000 has been tepid, and confidence remains fragile,” Dawson concludes.

Why It Matters

Looking at options, “the outlook remains mildly bearish through mid-year.” BTC 25-delta skew has deteriorated sharply, plunging from +5% this time last year to -3%. This suggests that traders are paying a premium for downside protection.

Details

Canton (CC) is next, with a rise of 4.4% to $0.1326.

The rest are down 5.4% and less per coin.

“This is more of a timing issue than a direction issue. I don’t think the fundamental story for Bitcoin has changed. If anything, you’ve seen a lot of consolidation,” he said.

Calm On Surface, But Turmoil Rising Underneath

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